AG Marshall announces $12.2 million settlement with Roblox to ensure child safety
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Special to the News
On Tuesday Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced that the state has reached a substantial settlement with the popular interactive gaming platform Roblox, securing meaningful improvements to online child safety and boots-on-the ground resources for Alabama’s schoolchildren.
Under the settlement terms, Alabama will receive $12.2 million to be used for funding school resource officers across the state via the Attorney General’s Safe School Initiative.
“Alabama stepped in where others failed to act. This settlement sends a clear message to every platform operating in this space – you cannot turn a blind eye to the exploitation of children and expect to avoid consequences,” stated Attorney General Marshall. “We have now established a framework that other states can and should use. Platforms that host child consumers must do their part to give parents a fighting chance to shield their children from harm. While parents will always play the primary role in protecting their children online, we are raising the bar on what we expect from gaming platforms – parents need a partner, not a black box. This is the beginning of a new standard, and Alabama will aggressively enforce it.”
As a part of the agreement with Roblox, all users must undergo age verification to ensure children have access only to age-appropriate content on the platform. Roblox has committed to using facial age estimation technology and government-issued ID for age confirmation and will use behavioral monitoring to identify users who may have been aged incorrectly.
The settlement also explicitly addresses privacy concerns related to age verification.
Parents will also have expanded control over their children’s use of the platform under the agreement. The expansion of parental controls allows parents to decide who their children are talking to and the games they are playing on the platform, as well as restrict the transfer of in-game currency (Robux) from adults other than trusted connections. In the absence of a parent account, the default content mode provides protections to minor users.
Adult users and users under 16 will not be able to chat unless they are identified as a “trusted friend” on the platform. Trusted friends for users under 13 require parental consent. Unless a parent elects otherwise, users between 13 and 15 years old may add trusted friends through a QR code or phone contact importer.
Under the agreement, Roblox will not allow communication involving minors to be encrypted. Unencrypted communication allows law enforcement to be able to more easily combat child exploitation networks, trafficking and the distribution of illegal and harmful content.
Roblox has committed to conducting workshops and awareness campaigns for the state of Alabama and local law enforcement, as well as establishing a liaison position that will provide state law enforcement with communication channels to quickly investigate and address safety concerns like online child exploitation.
Attorney General Steve Marshall was joined at the announcement by the Office’s Chief Counsel Katherine Robertson. Also in attendance were representatives from across Alabama’s education and law enforcement communities including, Ivy Classical Academy, Board Chairman Bradley Neave, Dr. David Withun, and four students. Albertville City Schools was represented by Superintendent Bart Reeves, Chief Operating Officer Robert Sims, and Director of Student Services Jordan Phillips. Lieutenant Pam Revels of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, who serves as both President of the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) and President of The Alabama Association of School Resource Officers (TAASRO), Officer Seth Sullivan of the Cullman Police Department, an SRO and Vice President of TAASRO. Mo Canady, Executive Director of NASRO, joined alongside Heather Norred, a Retired Deputy Sheriff and SRO who serves as Chief Financial Officer of TAASRO, and Lieutenant Sandra Crim of the Valley Police Department, Secretary of TAASRO. Retired Lieutenant Kenny Archer of the Talladega County Sheriff’s Office, Officer Richard Knecht of the Mountain Brook Police Department, Chief Justin Lovvorn of the Greenville Police Department, and Hoss Mack, Executive Director of the Alabama Sheriff’s Association, were also in attendance.
Alabama’s settlement announcement is significant, in that the settlement is one of the first in the nation to be reached with Roblox and is the result of negotiations over the last several months.
This case was handled internally by the Attorney General’s Office; thus, the State of Alabama will receive 100% of the funds secured by the settlement with no fees owed to outside firms. The “most favored nation” clause included in the agreement ensures that Alabama is entitled to any improved terms that are later agreed to by Roblox and any other state.
If you continue to experience issues with the platform, please reach out to the Alabama Attorney General’s Office at Roblox@AlabamaAG.Gov.
