US court permabans Roblox troll who made 'terrorist threats'

Last November we reported on the Roblox Corporation suing a longtime thorn in its side: one Benjamin Robert Simon, known online as Ruben Sim, who made controversial content on and about the platform for many years. The suit alleged Simon "commits and encourages unlawful acts designed to injure Roblox and its users" while seeking $1.6 million in damages.

To give an idea of his behaviour, Simon was accused of harassing other users, including sexual harassment, and using homophobic and racist language. He was more specifically accused of "attempting to upload a nude image of himself with only a lampshade covering his genitals", "attempting to upload a sex game" and “attempting to upload pictures of Hitler."

Most seriously, Roblox Corporation alleged that Simon and his "cybermob" of like-minded individuals caused the temporary shutdown of the Roblox Developers Conference in San Francisco in October due to "terrorist threats." Simon made various social media posts during the event that forced police and security forces to get involved, and a temporary shutdown of the event.

A US District Court in the Northern District of California has now passed judgement on the case and Simon, already banned from Roblox by its developer, is now banned from Roblox by court order (thanks, Ars Technica).

The judgement in part reads: "It is ordered that Defendant [Simon] is hereby permanently restrained and enjoined from the following actions: a. Making, publishing, or re-publishing false threats of terrorist activity relating to Roblox; b. Knowingly making false statements of fact about Roblox; c. Glamorizing or encouraging violence against Roblox, its employees, or facilities" and continues on to stop him approaching Roblox facilities or offices, any videos relating to Roblox, and forces him to delete any videos he's made within seven days of the order (he also has to provide Roblox a report on this, under penalty of perjury).

Roblox had pursued Simon for $16 million in damages for his behaviour, optimistic perhaps, but "a judgment in the amount of $150,000 is entered in favor of Plaintiff Roblox and against Defendant."

Safe to say that this troll won't be lurking under that particular bridge no more. I contacted Roblox Corporation to ask for comment on the verdict: "We don't have anything to add beyond what is already in the filing."

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."