Roblox's problematic moderation

⚠️ Article status notice: This article has been marked as incomplete

This article needs additional work for its sourcing and verifiability to meet the wiki's Content Guidelines and be in line with our Mission Statement for comprehensive coverage of consumer protection issues.

This notice will be removed once sufficient documentation has been added to establish the systemic nature of these issues. Once you believe the article is ready to have its notice removed, please visit the Moderator's noticeboard, or the discord and post to the #appeals channel.

Learn more ▼

This Article Requires Additional Verification

---

This article has been flagged due to verification concerns. While the topic might have merit, the claims presented lack citations that live up to our standards, or rely on sources that are questionable or unverifiable by our standards. Articles must meet the Moderator Guidelines and Mission statement; factual accuracy and systemic relevance are required for inclusion here!

Why This Article Is In Question

---

Articles in this wiki are required to:

• Provide verifiable & credible evidence to substantiate claims.
• Avoid relying on anecdotal, unsourced, or suspicious citations that lack legitimacy.
• Make sure that all claims are backed by reliable documentation or reporting from reputable sources.

Examples of issues that trigger this notice:

• A topic that heavily relies on forum posts, personal blogs, or other unverifiable sources.
• Unsupported claims with no evidence or citations to back them up.
• Citations to disreputable sources, like non-expert blogs or sites known for spreading misinformation.

How You Can Improve This Article

---

To address verification concerns:

• Replace or supplement weak citations with credible, verifiable sources.
• Make sure that claims are backed by reputable reporting or independent documentation.
• Provide additional evidence to demonstrate systemic relevance and factual accuracy. For example:
  • Avoid: Claims based entirely on personal anecdotes or hearsay without supporting documentation.
  • Include: Corporate policies, internal communications, receipts, repair logs, verifiable video evidence, or credible investigative reports.

If you believe this notice has been placed in error, or once the article has been updated to address these concerns, please visit the #appeals channel on our Discord server: Join here.

Since Roblox launched in 2004, both its automated and human aspects of moderation have been problematic for its consumers. Notable issues range from Roblox's obscene chat filter that limit communication on the platform,, inconsistent enforcement of guidelines, and the indirect encouragement of illegal behaviors on the platform intended for young audiences.

Background

No online platform is immune to child predators, especially those geared towards minor audiences, however, Roblox has had an extensive history regarding its poor handling of said individuals on the platform. The child predator problem has been exacerbated recently by a decision from the CEO David Baszucki to integrate dating features to the game, despite at minimum 40% of the game's population being under 13 years old, and a further 16% users are between 13 and 16 years old.

Problematic moderation

Beyond a questionable chat filtering system, Roblox has historically underinvested in adequate moderation for its user base. The moderation team is excessively small compared to its competitors, a documented 100-200 moderation on-staff compared to Fortnite's 1,000+ and Minecraft's 500+ members on the moderation staff. Combined with a lack of investment in adequate moderation tools, it has become responsible for an excess of younger audiences being harmed on the platform.

Reported by Hindenburg Research, the platform outsources its moderation to call centers within Asia, many of which are paid poorly and often lack the literacy to adequately handle cases, and their systems required multiple offenses to even incite a temporary ban. The former moderator they interviewed cited their poor resources as a key issue as to why he would refuse to let any kids he knew to play the game.

When the platform was investigated by journalists working to uncover how the platform was additionally encouraging the exploitation of underage developers, the company aimed to have the report taken down, thus leading to further research from reporters on People Make Games regarding further harmful moderation controversies. In the follow-up video, the lead developer of a fan game Sonic Eclipse Online on the platform by the alias of Doc spread harmful and sexually-charged comments to female developers on his team, and while his primary account was removed from the platform, Roblox's moderation team has refused to handle the alternate account which owns all the games he published to the platform, nor the games held by this alternate account either, meaning he continued to gain revenue from his project while clearly evading his ban. Soon after the publication of the video, his game would then be taken down via DMCA from SEGA. It was not until mid-2022 that Doc would receive federal charges for abducting a minor through his predatory behavior on the platform, and finally be entirely removed from said platform.

Roblox's response

So far, Roblox has done the following regarding its child predator problem:

• Threatened the content creator Schlep with litigation over vigilantism, despite cited neglect from the moderation by the user.
• The integration of an open-source AI-powered system (Sentinel) to spy on chats.
• Collaborating with law enforcement according to a blog post.

Intentionally covering up the problem

In a report from Hindenburg Research, they interviewed a former Senior Product Designer for the platform which directly stated:

“You’re supposed to make sure that your users are safe and but then the downside is that, if you’re limiting users’ engagement, it’s hurting your metrics. It’s hurting the [daily] active users, the time spent on the platform, and in a lot of cases, the leadership doesn’t want that.”

“You have to make a make a decision, right? You can keep your players safe, but then it would be less of them on the platform. Or you just let them do what they want to do. And then the numbers all look good and investors will be happy.”

“You maybe see it in the numbers going down or the profits going down. Then whether you like it or not, you kind of just have to reconsider your option[s], because once you’re a public company, you’re answering to all the investors.”

This statement in summary represented how the platform intentionally refused to integrate features to protect underage users on the platform, exclusively for the purposes of inflating the game's population to appease the platform's shareholders.

"Condo" games

The platform additionally hosts thousands of "condo" games, to allow platform users to simulate sexual activities. Despite these games being directly in violation of Roblox's policies:

"Any content which explicitly [depicts] sexual content or nudity is against the rules of Roblox"

The platform has been slow to handle these games being frequently uploaded, especially since these games are frequently reuploaded on alternate accounts en-masse. Additionally, the platform has notoriously collaborated with TheOfficialTeddy, known for publishing "condo" games to the platform, even including one of his notorious titles within 2025's The Hatch event, despite his long history of frequent bans from the platform. The platform reversed Teddy's addition within the event and re-banned the individual only after significant backlash from players and content creators participating in the event.

An example of one of the mature games on Roblox that can be played by underage accounts.

A sibling to the "condo" genre have been titles named after individuals known for sex trafficking, such as Sean "Diddy" Combs and Jeffrey Epstein, these games were able to be easily accessed by underage users.

Even games which may not be initially intended for mature audiences have been at risk from mature-aged users posting inappropriate content, such as "School Simulator", which failed to censor genitalia, obscene speech, and more, despite Roblox's claims that it reviews every piece of content uploaded to the platform.

CSAM communities

Some Roblox experiences have large communities that trade in child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) and allow underage players to access them. Hindenburg reported that there are at least 38 of these groups which solicit CSAM as of 2024. One such group evaded moderation for at least 15 years by disguising itself as “[ Content Deleted 19208 ]”, with ID info stating that it formed in 2009. Moderation For Dummies reported the existence of at least 12,400 accounts which dabble in various levels of CSAM on the platform.

Lawsuits and legal controversies

This section is incomplete. This notice can be deleted once all the placeholder text has been replaced.

Litigation has been frequent for the platform regarding its neglect to handle child predators for several years now. The following is a brief list from over 300 unique legal incidents regarding Roblox's moderation.

Arnold Castillo (February to July 2022)

In February 2022, the lead game developer for the game Sonic Eclipse Online on Roblox, Arnold Castillo, allegedly used the platform to groom an anonymous minor. Months later in May, he allegedly coerced the minor into crossing state lines to his property via the service Uber. Days after the abduction, the individual was detained and put on trial, and received 2 life sentences and $500k in fines. This occurred after Castillo's extensive history of violating the platform's Terms of Service for the purposes of grooming minors. Both his community and staff released 2 documents covering his harmful behavior on both Roblox and additionally Discord. Roblox's moderation refused to directly handle the situation, despite the extensive reports, and his arrest compiled with the charges he faced were only successful due to datamining efforts via vigilantes on the platform.

State v. Darius Matylewich (September 2023)

In 2023, Darius Matylewich allegedly used a combination of Roblox and other social media services to abduct an 11-year-old girl to his property across state lines. 2 years later, on July 2, 2025, Matylewich was charged with 20 years of incarceration for the coercion and enticement of a minor. During the entire incident, Roblox did not halt Matylewich's activities on the platform.

State v. Franciou Romelus (April 2024)

Francious Romelus allegedly stalked a 14-year-old girl via Roblox in 2023 and attempted to abduct her on April 12, 2024. Romelus was charged with aggravated stalking, transmission of harmful material to a minor, among other charges, and received a 30-year sentence. Roblox moderation again did not prevent, halt, or report the individual to authorities at that time.

U.S. v. Daniel Aravena Oliva (August 2024)

In 2024, Daniel Aravena Oliva allegedly groomed a 13-year-old girl on the platform across international borders for several months. After flying to the US from Chile, the individual was arrested before he could sexually assault the minor.

State v. Christian Scribben (February to April 2025)

Christian Scribben allegedly, on multiple accounts, used Roblox to coerce minors to produce CSAM. Scribben was arrested in April and tried as an adult. On the day of Scribben's arrest, the Florida AG James Uthmeier subpoenaed Roblox regarding its marketing material, citing an excess of reports of children being exposed to “graphic or harmful material” while using the platform.

State v. Matthew Naval (April to June 2025)

Matthew Macatuno Naval allegedly abducted a 10-year-old girl soon after meeting her on Roblox, and he was charged with one count of kidnapping, one count of kidnapping a child under 14 to commit sex acts, two counts of committing sex acts with a child under 14, one count of showing sexual content to a minor, and two counts related to contacting a minor with the intent to commit a sex act. According to police, the survivor was found in a car at an Elk Grove strip mall over 250 miles from her home in Taft, and police returned her to her family. Representing the severity of the charges against Naval, his bail was listed at about US$1.35 million.

Doe et al v. Roblox Corporation et al (July 2025)

The suit Doe et al v. Roblox Corporation et al, filed on July 9, 2025, is an ongoing product liability suit where the plaintiffs are two anonymous individuals and the defendants are Roblox Corporation and Discord, Inc. The main complaints in the original file were:

(1) Fraudulent Concealment and Misrepresentations
(2) Negligent Misrepresentation
(3) Negligence — General
(4) Negligence — Failure to Warn
(5) Negligence — Unreasonable Design
(6) Negligent Undertaking
(7) Strict Liability — Design Defect
(8) Strict Liability — Failure to Warn

Consumer response

Users such as Schlep turn to vigilantism due to the negligence of the platform's own moderation teams. In response to Roblox's submission of a cease and desist notice to Schlep, the platform was condemned by the community and California 17^th Congressional District Representative Ro Khanna, and consumers promoted a hashtag #FreeSchlep in an attempt to get Schlep's account reinstated. The movement also received support from popular Roblox YouTuber KreekCraft. Furthermore, Roblox outlawed vigilante groups on their platform, causing vigilante group RoCatchers, a predator-catching group, to disband.

The platform's poor moderation choices also led to the formation of the subreddit r/ROBLOXbans, which has extensive posts covering the platform both ignoring mature content and excessively punishing users over minor or absurd infractions.

Legacy

This section is incomplete. This notice can be deleted once all the placeholder text has been replaced.

The negligence shown by Roblox and the platform's moderation has been a key point within various forms of legislation to require identification-based verification on online services, e.g. the Online Safety Act of 2023 within the United Kingdom.