Research on Roblox

“This is not about a minor lapse in safety, it’s about a company that gives pedophiles powerful tools to prey on innocent and unsuspecting kids. The trauma that results is horrific, from grooming, to exploitation, to actual assault. In this case, a child lost her life. This needs to stop.” ~ Alexandra Walsh, Partner at Anapol Weiss via Anapol Weiss

Roblox looks like digital LEGO, but the risks are now big enough that attorneys general, researchers, and child protection advocates are sounding alarms.

Investigators using child avatars have repeatedly found sexualised content, grooming behavior, and harassment inside Roblox experiences, even with safety tools turned on (Revealing Reality, reported in The Guardian, 2025). The report also found the avatar belonging to the 10-year-old’s account could access ‘highly suggestive environments’ and another “test avatar registered to an adult was able to ask for the five-year-old test avatar’s Snapchat details using barely coded language”

Parents and several US states have sued Roblox for safety issues and making it too easy for predators to contact children (Kentucky Attorney General, 2025; Louisiana Attorney General, 2025; Texas Attorney General, 2025). A single plaintiffs’ firm (Anapol Weiss) reports it has filed 12 wrongful-death suits against Roblox, one explicitly involving a 13-year-old girl’s suicide after alleged extremist grooming; other suits involve different forms of exploitation. NSPCC and other child protection groups now list Roblox alongside social media when they brief parents about online risk (NSPCC, 2022).

So this is no longer a niche concern. For clinicians and parents, Roblox belongs in routine conversations about mood, sleep, and safety.

The warning signs and suggestions below are adapted from WHO and APA criteria for problematic gaming, systematic reviews on cyberbullying and adolescent mental health, and media-use guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics, Canadian Paediatric Society, and NSPCC.

Children: Changes in Behaviour & Stress

These behavioural changes may appear in a child who is heavily engaged on gaming platforms:

• More irritable or tearful, especially when asked to log off
• Staying up late to play, trouble falling asleep, or nightmares
• Slipping grades, incomplete homework, loss of interest in offline activities
• Withdrawing from in person friends, relying mainly on gaming “friends”
• Hiding screens, constant headphones, refusal to play in shared spaces

Learn more in these symptoms via the American Psychiatric Association, via the WHO, and via The Canadian Centre for Child Protection.

Ideas for Parents & Guardians

1. Play once, then set rules together. Ask your child to show you their favourite games and who they play with.
2. Use the safety tools. Turn on parental controls, restrict chat and friend requests, limit spending, and keep devices in shared spaces when possible (Roblox Trust and Safety, 2025; NSPCC, 2022).
3. Anchor Roblox inside a family media plan. Protect time for sleep, schoolwork, exercise, and offline friends. The American Academy of Pediatrics has simple family media plan tools that can be adapted to any home you can access here.
4. Make disclosure safe. Explain to your child that If something weird or scary happens on their gaming platform to inform you because this information can help you keep them safe.

Three Questions Every Trainee Can Ask

You can integrate a digital media use conversation into a psychosocial history in under a minute:

1. “What games or apps do you use most, is Roblox one of them?”
2. “Who do you usually play with, people you know in real life or mostly people you only know online”
3. “Has anyone ever said or done something while playing the game that felt uncomfortable or scary”

A “yes” to that third question is your signal to slow down, explore, document, and involve safeguarding if needed.

It’s important to understand that these platforms, such as Roblox, are social environments that can shape a child’s mood, sleep, sense of safety, and self-worth. As the NSPCC has highlighted, many parents underestimate what actually happens in these online spaces, while children often struggle to talk about what they see and experience. Our job, as clinicians and caregivers, is to stay curious, ask specific questions about gaming, and notice changes in behaviour, sleep, appetite, or school engagement. When we pair open conversations with early mental health support, we provide children a reliable, attuned adult who is watching out for them.