The last few months have seen a slew of lawsuits against tech platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp for formulating policies that are making the youth and kids addicted to these social platforms, leading to serious mental health issues.
It is now the turn of video gaming tech companies to face the heat, and the latest is Roblox, a video gaming tech company based in San Mateo, which has been slapped with a new lawsuit. The company is charged with exploiting child labor with the aid of its youthful players and also for deceptive advertising.
Roblox dominates the video game sector and has 75% of kids between the ages of 9 to 12 in the U.S. on its platform. The lawsuit against Roblox was filed last week in the U.S. District Court Northern District of California San Francisco Division.
Roblox Lawsuit Allegations
The lawsuit alleges that Roblox has ensured that millions of kids stay hooked to the gaming platform and exposed them to dangerous, unfettered, and monstrous virtual experiences.
The games are designed in a way that is harmful to kids and also addictive.
No wonder the lawsuit alleges that when other businesses are failing, Roblox has turned into a wild success.
“Robux” is the name of the digital currency that has to be purchased at the rate of $4.99 per 400 units and can only be used on the Roblox platform. It is alleged that in the first nine months of 2023, a whopping $2.39 billion worth of Robux was purchased.
Most kids rely on their parents to purchase the digital currency, and one such parent is Raymond and Laura Noel, who live with their children in Kern County, California. The couple spent thousands of dollars buying the Robux digital currency for their kids and is one of the many parents who are represented in the lawsuit.
Roblox was unveiled as a computer game in 2006 after being beta-tested for many years. The game was introduced for iOS in 2012, Android in 2014, Xbox in 2015, and PlayStation in 2023. The COVID pandemic further led to a surge in its popularity.
The lawsuit alleges that the game platform is designed in such a way that it makes the kids addicted to the game. The game is designed to encourage kids to play for longer periods. To create an account, the user has to enter his birthday, and there are no age restrictions on who can play.
It is reported that kids under the age of 13 comprise the largest chunk of the players. Players can also form communities and also indulge in private messaging.
Earlier this month, Roblox announced it launched AI-powered automatic chat translations.
There are more than 70 million users, and the company aims to take this figure to 1 billion users.
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