A new federal lawsuit filed in California alleges Roblox and Discord designed and ran their platforms in ways that let a 46-year-old retired military man sexually exploit a 9-year-old after meeting her on Roblox and moving her to Discord, “knowingly causing and facilitating” exploitation of children.
A civil complaint filed this week, on August 28, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses the gaming giant, Roblox Corporation, and the massively popular VoIP platform, Discord Inc., of running their businesses that enabled the exploitation of a child, while publicly assuring families that those products were safe.
The plaintiffs, Jane Doe, a minor, and her mother, Mary Doe, both from Coweta County, Georgia, say the child began playing Roblox at age four because it appeared safe. According to the lawsuit, at age nine, she was contacted in Roblox by a man who pretended to be a child, gained her trust on Roblox, then moved her to Discord, where he pressured her into sending explicit material and used those materials to force further acts.
Federal agents later informed the family; the man, identified in the complaint as a 46-year-old retired member of the military, pled guilty in a criminal case and received a 30-year sentence. The complaint stresses these are civil allegations directed at Roblox and Discord and seeks damages and injunctive relief from the companies.
“In 2023, when Plaintiff was just nine years old, she was targeted in a Roblox game by a predator who posed as a fellow child when, in fact, he was a 46-year-old man. On Roblox, the predator exploited Plaintiff’s age and vulnerability, building a false emotional connection with her under the guise of friendship,” the 105-page complaint (seen by The Game Post) reads.
“Then, after capturing Plaintiff’s trust on Roblox, the predator pressured Plaintiff into downloading Discord and creating an account. And then, once on Discord, the predator coerced Plaintiff into sending sexually explicit images and videos of herself on Discord, which he then used to blackmail Plaintiff into sending more and increasingly graphic photos and videos of herself on Discord.”
“Plaintiff’s parents were unaware of the sexual abuse that Plaintiff was suffering through Roblox and Discord until federal law enforcement arrived at their home to inform them that Plaintiff was being exploited by a 46-year-old retired military man. The predator pled guilty and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.”
Roblox and Discord Lawsuit Alleges Platform Design, Defaults, and Promises of Safety Exposed Kids
The filing argues that both companies sold an image of safety to families while making design and policy choices that left children exposed. On Roblox, the complaint says the company “lures parents…with promises of safety,” asserting that “Roblox’s success and continued growth have hinged on its constant, false assurances to parents that its app is safe for children.”
It points to long-running marketing and website language that framed Roblox as a place where kids could “safely interact” while, in the plaintiff’s telling, the product environment allowed harmful interactions to take root.
For Discord, the complaint includes a section titled, “Discord prioritizes growth over the safety of children.” It focuses on defaults and features that allegedly opened the door for unwanted contact. One example the filing highlights: by default, “Discord permits children to receive friend requests from ‘Everyone,'” which means kids can accept requests from people they don’t know.
The filing also takes aim at Discord’s Family Center, quoting Discord’s own description of it as a “completely opt-in feature” that is “not mandatory for teens.” The plaintiffs say this setup puts user privacy ahead of parental oversight because parents cannot view message content even when monitoring is enabled.
A major thread in the complaint is how people can meet a child on Roblox and then shift to Discord for more private conversation, which the filing frames as a predictable pattern that the companies long knew. It points to cross-platform tie-ins such as Discord, showing a user’s Roblox “activity status” (so others can see when and what Roblox game someone is playing) and says “users can also send other users the codes for Robux gift cards to redeem on Roblox.”
“Roblox and Discord designed their apps to work together seamlessly,” the complaint reads. “As described above, Roblox encourages users to communicate on Discord by allowing links to Discord servers and channels to be displayed on game or group pages and by permitting users to include their Discord usernames in their Roblox profiles.
“Discord, for its part, enables users to link their Roblox accounts to their Discord accounts. Their ‘activity status’ on Discord then shows other users, including predators, when they are playing Roblox and what game they are playing. On Discord, users can also send other users the codes for Robux gift cards to redeem on Roblox.”
The filing states that the child has suffered severe and lasting emotional and psychological harm, with ongoing impacts on daily life. It also notes that the mother relied on the companies’ safety messaging when allowing her child to use the apps.
“Plaintiff has suffered significant emotional and psychological injuries, including anxiety, depression, sleep terrors, post-traumatic stress, immense humiliation, increased aggression, shame, and a loss of trust and safety. She has engaged in self-harming behaviors, and continues to endure the effects of this abuse, which have severely impacted her mental health, her educational pursuits, and overall well-being.”
The lawsuit brings eight causes of action. Against Roblox alone, it asserts fraudulent concealment and misrepresentations, and negligent misrepresentation. Against both Roblox and Discord, it alleges negligence (general), negligence for failure to warn, negligence for unreasonable design, negligent undertaking, strict liability for design defect, and strict liability for failure to warn.
The theory is that product design choices and safety-related omissions directly caused the harm; the plaintiffs seek general and special damages (including medical expenses and impaired earning capacity), punitive damages, fees and costs, interest, and non-monetary injunctive relief requiring stronger protections.
As of right now, the complaint does not include responses from Roblox or Discord.
