Report from AP News
In Brief – The Attorney General of Kentucky has filed a lawsuit against Roblox, a vast platform of user-generated games and interactive experiences, accusing the company of failing to protect children and that the platform is a “playground for predators.” The complaint, which is similar to one from the State of Louisiana, alleges that children are exposed to “violent or sexual situations within the Roblox universe” and that the company has “failed to install basic safety controls” or inform its users and their parents about “dangers inherent” on the platform. Attorney General Russell Coleman called on the company to install effective age verifications, parental notification, and content filters. Roblox was launched in 2006 and is reported to have 82 million daily active users, many under age 12. Last year, Roblox launched several safety measures, including barring users under the age of 13 from sending direct messages, and in July they announced that they would begin rolling out technical age verification linked to their age-based rules.
Context – Social media critics have long been pursuing legal strategies to circumvent Sec. 230, including that platform designs encourage “addictive” use and algorithms are not protected by Sec. 230. State legislation based on these arguments are facing generally skeptical federal judges, although not in the 5th Circuit. Civil lawsuits targeting social media for faulty and negligent design, which are rapidly metastasizing, are having better luck getting past initial court hurdles. The biggest avowed goal of the social media critics is to regulate, reduce, and block many teens from the platforms. This requires online age verification, and sometimes verification of parents as well, as some age-based regimes allow for parental consent. Gaming platforms, which often have social features, are therefore being pulled in, including in Australia and the UK, so no surprise about the US litigation as well. Finally, the US judge who blocked Utah’s social media bill noted the lack of evidence that teens are generally harmed by social media, finding more evidence of balanced and individualized effects, so there is that longshot platform defense.