Family sues online video game platform, communications app, over child abduction

A family in California is suing online platforms Roblox and Discord after a 10-year-old girl was allegedly abducted following online communication with a man through the platforms.

Roblox is a user-generated video game creation and sharing tool, while Discord is a communications app.

The Kern County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a missing child in Taft at 10 a.m. April 13. The girl was last seen the night before, according to the department. Detectives say they found she had been communicating with 27-year-old Matthew Macatuno Naval.

“We are bringing this case because of what happened to this little girl, which is nothing short of horrifying,” Alexandra Walsh, a partner with Anapol Weiss, who is representing the family of the lost girl, told reporters.

“She was identified, targeted, and groomed by a really dangerous sexual predator on the Roblox platform,” she added.

Through these apps, the girl shared her address with Naval.

“He drove several hours away to the home,” Walsh said. “Thankfully, the police were able to find her by using the GPS. … And she’s now home safely with her family.”

The family’s lawsuit against Roblox and Discord alleges negligence and strict liability.

“The family wants Roblox to be honest about the dangers that kids face when they’re allowed to play on these platforms,” Walsh said. “Because parents have a lot of tough decisions to make when it comes to their kids and their kids being online.”

Roblox expressed concern following the report.

“We are deeply troubled by any incident that endangers our users,” its spokesman told reporters. “While we cannot comment on claims raised in litigation, we always strive to hold ourselves to the highest safety standards. This includes strong processes to detect and act on problematic behaviors, including advanced technology and 24/7 human moderation and attempts to direct users off-platform, where safety standards and moderation may be less stringent than ours.”

Roblox is implementing new safety features to prevent incidents such as this from happening again, according to the spokesman.

“At Roblox, safety is a top priority and we are continually innovating new safety features – over 100 this year alone – that protect our users and empower parents and caregivers with greater control and visibility. While no system is perfect, Roblox is designed with rigorous built in safety features, and our policies are purposely stricter than those found on other platforms.”

Discord also said it takes safety seriously.

“Discord is deeply committed to safety and we require all users to be at least 13 to use our platform,” its spokesman said. “We use a combination of advanced technology and trained safety teams to proactively find and remove content that violates our policies.”

Walsh told reporters the family has no illusions about the “big fight” the lawsuit will incur.

“Roblox is one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the world,” she noted. “It has seemingly endless resources, many, many, many lawyers. I am just honored to represent this family and so amazed by their grit and their determination to make a difference.”

Roblox and Discord will reportedly move to compel the case to arbitration.