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US Senate launches investigation into Roblox: 'Children on your platform are hurting. Congress will not look the other way'
Roblox says it "looks forward to sharing the facts" with the investigative committee.
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It looks like another bad day for Roblox: The US Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism has launched an investigation into child safety on the platform, saying the company "appears to prioritize revenue and engagement metrics over the safety and well-being of our children."
A letter (via Kotaku) sent to Roblox CEO David Baszucki by subcommittee chairman Josh Hawley and ranking member Dick Durbin says that while Roblox has repeatedly claimed that it is a safe platform for children, "the public record raises serious questions about this promise."
"Over the past decade, police have arrested numerous individuals for committing serious acts of violence and harm against children they met via Roblox, including grooming, sexual abuse, kidnapping, rape, and even murder," the letter reads. "Roblox is being used to trade child sexual abuse material, participate in sexually explicit (and often violent) virtual 'experiences' with children, bribe and extort children into producing explicit content, and lure children into in-person meetings. It is heartbreaking."
The past year has been quite a ride for Roblox and those who use it. The company has been aggressively fighting allegations that it is, as one investment research firm called it, a "pedophile hellscape," tightening restrictions on unrated games and using age estimation checks and new kinds of limited accounts to keep underage users away from inappropriate content and, well, pedophiles. Baszucki also took the very straightforward step of telling parents who are worried about Roblox, "Don't let your kids be on Roblox."
There have been missteps, to put it gently. Baszucki said in 2025 that Roblox's predator problem is "not just a problem, but an opportunity," which at the very least is a PR botch of ungodly proportions. He also mused about turning Roblox into a dating hub, which again is not the sort of thing to say when you're facing legal action from Louisiana, Kentucky, Florida, Texas, LA County, Australia, the UK, and various others over your alleged systemic child safety failures.
At the same time, somehow, Roblox earned praise from the US Attorney General Alliance "for its readiness to collaborate directly with policymakers and respond to community concerns." And separate from all that, the kids really like Roblox—although that might be softening. The Roblox audience is still massive but not as massive as it was, and that's hammered the company's share price, although it's still trading roughly around where it was through 2023 and '24.
What it all adds up to is a company, and a platform, that's under pressure from multiple directions, and this Senate investigation only adds to that.
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