Roblox! The classic online platform where you can play games made by other users, customize your own avatar, or make a game yourself. But in a game that’s supposed to be “kid friendly,” over time, the app has given sexual predators easy access to many innocent youth. Roblox has always had safety concerns, but many lawsuits have only recently started to surface.
In a statement, Louisiana attorney Liz Murrill, who sued the platform, said, “Roblox is overrun with harmful content and child predators because it prioritizes user growth, revenue, and profits over child safety.” Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna corroborated, accusing the platform of insufficient child safety measures. He started an online petition against Roblox and warned viewers in a TikTok video that, “Roblox is simply not doing enough to protect our kids, to inform parents, and to go after child predators.”
A 22-year-old content creator known as “Schlep” was known for playing Roblox and “catching” these predators. The self-proclaimed “predator hunter” had over 800k subscribers on YouTube and claimed his investigations led to six real-life arrests of groomers on Roblox. The creator even included real mugshots in some of his posts. His motivation for making his videos stemmed from his own experiences as a child, which led him to a suicide attempt. Afterwards, he made it his mission to help save others from the same fate.
“I’ve made it clear since the beginning,” Schlep said to Rolling Stone after Roblox seemingly ignored his concerns, even after his many attempts to work with them. He explained how he reached out, saying, “Hey, I want to work with you. I was a victim of the platform. This is why I do it. And I would love some form of communication where I can just directly report these people to you, because their [Roblox’s] reports just don’t work.”
As of last month, Schlep has been removed from the platform. Roblox’s CEO, David Baszucki, defended the safety of the website and sent the YouTuber a cease-and-desist letter, claiming that Roblox was “perfectly safe” even with evidence to the contrary. Schlep expressed his outrage both on TikTok and X, including the actual letter that cited “simulated child endangerment” and “taking conversations off-platform” on August 9. The last time he posted a video on YouTube was about a month ago. Titled “Roblox, Take a Seat,” it had 8.1 million views as of September 20. In the video, Schlep addresses the situation in his own words, calling Roblox out for failing to protect the kids on their app.
Anyone who signs up on Roblox can make a 13+ account. This means they can see social media links, apps that Roblox is partnered with, and talk with people they think they know from “Meep City” or “Public Bathroom Simulator.” This includes games that are exclusively “Not Safe For Work,” with a 17+ label attached to them. This is only one of the issues that Schlep spoke about in his recent upload.
On August 13, Baszucki enacted the “Vigilante Policy” in Roblox. While the policy never mentioned Schlep by name, it was widely seen as a response to his work on finding and catching predators. He and his team were described as “vigilantes” who “undertake law enforcement.” Some of Roblox’s policies also labeled these vigilantes as “similar to actual predators” by “impersonating” children, even though their intentions after gathering evidence were to bring cases to light and usually contact local police. These policies sparked widespread debate and criticism.
Word spread online through hashtags like #FreeSchlep and #BoycottRoblox in support of the content creator, including backing from major creators like MoistCr1TiKal, JiDion, and SunKenjiVT. A petition calling for Baszucki to “fix what he’s caused or resign” had more than 48,000 signatures by the morning of August 14. Another video citing the petitions for the Roblox CEO’s resignation surpassed 1.2 million views on YouTube in just a few days.
This problem clearly runs deeper than the game, or video games in general. It’s real children’s lives at stake. The question remaining now is this: Why are David Baszucki and his company choosing profits over safety?
