CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State Attorney General J.B. McCuskey has announced an $11 million settlement with video game company Roblox.
McCuskey said a lot of kids, including his daughters, play Roblox but there were too many child safety issues. McCuskey said predators were getting into chat rooms. He said the terms of the West Virginia settlement with the company will fundamentally overhaul Roblox.
“They have agreed to change the totality of their platform,” McCuskey said Tuesday 580Live with Dave Allen on 580 WCHS Radio. “So now when your login to Roblox there is an AI facial recognition software that they’ve added that takes a picture of your face and your child’s face which will determine what your actual age is and then the game is restricted based what your AI age is.”
McCuskey said other states have filed lawsuits against Roblox. He said he called the CEO personally.
“I said, ‘Hey, we’ve got a real problem here and West Virginia wants to work with you to change the way your platform works so we can help protect kids,'” McCuskey said.
The terms of the settlement include:
–verify the age of all users before granting chat access, reducing grooming risk and limiting adult-to-minor contact.
–block all chat until age verification is complete, eliminating anonymous accounts that predators use to target children.
–restrict adults from contacting users under 16 except through verified trusted friends, cutting off unsolicited adult-to-minor contact.
–alert minors the first time they enter a private chat, so children know how to communicate safely.
–default all under-16 and unverified users to safe content mode, blocking adult-rated material proactively.
What happens with the $11 million the state is set to receive?
McCuskey said several million dollars will be used on an education component.
“They are going to be providing us law enforcement officers to be on the ground in West Virginia over the next seven years to help train (school) principals and parents and students about the dangers of all online gaming, not just on Roblox,” McCuskey said.
The exact breakdown includes:
–$500,000 in safety education workshops for parents and children throughout the state
–$1.5 million three-year public safety campaign
–$2.4 million over six years for the dedicated internet safety specialist
McCuskey said the rest of the money can be used on a “myriad of things.”
McCuskey said the settlement is an example of how things are supposed to work without going to trial.
“Roblox will now be the potentially the safest online game for kids to be playing, but secondly, this is bow these things can really work when a company steps up and says ‘Hey, I’ve got a great product, we want kids to be able to use this and we’re willing to admit our platform was making a mistake,'” McCuskey said.