For many years now, a large platform for games has failed to ensure a sufficiently good child protection. This is fatal, as young players represent the most important target group of the offering. Now a big YouTuber has stated that the responsible parties have been sued.
Which YouTuber is it about? It’s about Mike Mandell, who, as a long-time lawyer, uses various social media platforms to explain difficult legal issues in an easily understandable manner and to classify current rulings.
Thus, Mandell is somewhat like the American version of Christian Solmecke, who does similar things in this country on his YouTube channel WBS LEGAL.
However, Mandell has a much larger reach. His YouTube channel Law By Mike has over 14.8 million subscribers. On TikTok, there are 11.1 million followers.
Which platform is it about? It’s about Roblox, which recently achieved a historic milestone: At times, 47.3 million players were active on the platform simultaneously. 78 million users log in daily. This even outshines other digital magnets like Steam or Fortnite.
Roblox is a kind of free-to-play game building block that is often created and published by the users themselves. It’s not just about being creative and experiencing the self-created gaming experiences with others, but also about a financial share in the microtransactions that are made within the respective game with the real currency Robux.
This incentive, along with the resulting offering of games, has allowed the platform to develop into one of the most popular destinations for primarily young players over the past 20 years.
What is the problem with Roblox? Although the platform has been on the market for so long and primarily appeals to younger players, developers fail to promptly and child-appropriately moderate the mass of players and games and to establish measures that sustainably protect minors from abuse and toxic or questionable content.
Organizations like the German Children’s Fund or the Federal Agency for Child and Youth Media Protection criticize the platform operators (Source: Deutschlandfunk). In the USA, hundreds of lawsuits against Roblox are currently being prepared, also focusing on the inadequate child protection (Source: wired.com).
Kids do “everything for a few Robux”
What’s behind the lawsuit from Law By Mike? Mike Mandell explained this week in a new video on YouTube. The lawyer reports on countless cases where children have been proven to have been approached by adults – sometimes with devastating effects for the young victims.
Among the few convicted and prosecuted are, according to Mandell, also alleged trusted persons such as teachers, nurses, or police officers.
The accusation in the current lawsuits against Roblox: They are aware of the problem areas, but still give parents the impression through the official statements on the topic that Roblox is a safe place for kids.
Here you can watch the new video from Law By Mike:
Mike Mandell now supports these lawsuits and also collaborates with other YouTubers like Schlep. The young man has had very negative experiences on Roblox that he still struggles with. Involved is also said to be the developer of a Roblox game.
Therefore, Schlep has been working with the police for some time to expose adults on the platform who are looking for potential minor victims – 6 perpetrators have already been detected and arrested.
However, Roblox does not support Schlep in his valuable work. Instead, his account was banned because he allegedly violated the terms of use. At the same time, he received a legal cease and desist order in the mail.
After Schlep made a video about it on YouTube, the case against Roblox noticeably gained momentum. Large parts of the community and other content creators spoke out in favor of the YouTuber, #freeschlep trended on social media, and eventually the case reached the mainstream, even prompting politicians like Congressman Ro Khanna to comment on Roblox.
Those who enjoy gaming with their kids can perhaps fill the agreed gaming times with really good co-op games. A few of these were introduced to you recently: 10 co-op games that you and your kids will have a lot of fun with
The effects were also felt by the Roblox authorities, as the stock suffered significant losses (Mike Mandell mentions in the video $12 billion). In addition, Schlep announced that he plans to sue Roblox for the psychological damage suffered, with his lawyer representing over 800 other lawsuits against Roblox.
In this, they are not alone. Mike Mandell has now joined forces with Schlep’s lawyer and the other victims to jointly sue Roblox. The lawsuit pursues 3 approaches:
- The ease with which one can create an account, fake their birth date, and communicate with kids as an adult.
- The way the real currency Robux is integrated into the game. Young children are said to be extremely susceptible to doing “everything for a few Robux.”
- The significant moderation gap that allows even obviously problematic games like a shower simulator to remain available for months.
These points, according to Mandell, are supported by information from employees reporting extreme security gaps, overwhelmed staff, rejected security features, and more. The importance of having clear improvements here is demonstrated by a particularly severe case that MeinMMO reported on in August 2024: A player is exposed as a pedophile in Roblox, yet remains free and abducts a 15-year-old girl.
