The Attorney General Alliance, a bipartisan group of US state attorneys general that "takes on emerging issues like cannabis regulation, sports betting," has launched a new Partnership for Youth Online Safety initiative, and its first game industry partner is none other than Roblox. The AGA praised Roblox "for its leadership in promoting safe, more positive digital experiences for all through better product design," and if you think that sounds a little odd, it's possibly because Roblox is being sued by two associate members of AGA, Louisiana attorney general Liz Murrill and Kentucky attorney general Russell Coleman.
The Partnership for Youth Online Safety project "aims to reduce online harms through the development of practical, collaborative, and measurable design-based safeguards while also sharing best practices and tools that public and private partners can use to collaborate more effectively and better protect children online."
Murrill, reacting to the announcement on X, didn't seem especially impressed, but she did notably ease up on the inflammatory language: "Hey Roblox—Let’s have more meaningful protections for children. Not just lobbying."
The AGA doesn't dictate policy—it is, as far as I can tell, more of a working forum where state AGs can share ideas, discuss complex (or maybe not so complex) matters, and get together now and then for drinks and expensive meals. So Roblox partnering up with it for this program isn't going to directly derail any lawsuits, but it could complicate them somewhat—it's a lot harder to accuse a platform of being a haven for sex predators when your professional working group is holding it up as an exemplar of online protections—and might help head off other potential state-filed lawsuits in the future.
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