Roblox, Discord sued after 15-year-old boy was allegedly groomed online before he died by suicide

The mother of a 15-year-old California boy who took his own life is now 
suing Roblox and Discord over his death, alleging her son was groomed and 
coerced to send explicit images on the apps.

Rebecca Dallas filed the lawsuit Friday in San Francisco County Superior 
Court accusing the companies of “recklessly and deceptively operating 
their business in a way that led to the sexual exploitation and suicide” 
of Ethan Dallas.

Ethan was a “bright, imaginative boy who loved gaming, streaming and 
interacting with friends online,” the lawsuit states. He started playing 
on the online gaming platform Roblox around the age of 9, with his 
parents’ approval and with parental controls in place. When he was 12, he 
was targeted by “an adult sex predator” who posed as a child on Roblox and 
befriended Ethan, attorneys for Rebecca Dallas said in a statement.

What started out as innocent conversation “gradually escalated to sexual 
topics and explicit exchanges,” the complaint says.

After a while, the man encouraged Ethan to turn off parental controls and 
move their conversations to Discord, the lawyers said.

On Discord, the man “increasingly demanded explicit photographs and 
videos” and threatened Ethan that he’d post or share the images. Ethan 
complied out of fear, the complaint says.

“Tragically, Ethan was permanently harmed and haunted by these 
experiences, and he died by suicide at the age of 15,” the complaint said. 
He died in April 2024, according to an online obituary.

The lawsuit accuses Roblox and Discord of wrongful death, fraudulent 
concealment and misrepresentations, negligent misrepresentation, and 
strict liability.

It argues that had Roblox and Discord taken steps to screen users before 
allowing them on apps, or implemented age and identity verification and 
other safety measures, “Ethan would have never interacted with this 
predator, never suffered he harm that he did, and never died by suicide.”

Apps not safe for kids, suit says
Dallas, of San Diego County, thought both platforms were safe for her son 
to use to communicate with friends while gaming, given how the apps 
marketed themselves and the parental controls she set, the suit contended.

Roblox is used daily by 111 million people, according to its website, 
offering a variety of games, obstacle courses, and the ability to chat 
with other users. It is free to make an account and there is no age 
minimum, nor required age verification.

Discord, launched in 2015, is a communications platform commonly used by 
gamers who want to chat or video chat while playing video games. The suit 
said that the app doesn’t verify age or identity.

The suit claims Roblox allowed Ethan to turn off the parental controls and 
Discord allowed him to create an account and communicate with adults 
without any parental oversight. It said that while Roblox states children 
must have parental permission to sign up, “nothing prevents them from 
creating their own accounts and playing on Roblox.”

The suit alleges the two apps misrepresented safety on their platforms, 
saying the design of the apps “makes children easy prey for pedophiles” 
due to a lack of safeguards and predator screening.

After Ethan’s tragic death, his family learned from law enforcement that 
the man who groomed him had been arrested in Florida “for sexually 
exploiting other children through Defendants’ apps,” the complaint said.

Today, Roblox’s default settings do not allow adults to directly message 
children under the age of 13, but children can still create accounts with 
fake birth dates giving them full access to direct-messaging options, the 
complaint said.

“We are deeply saddened by this tragic loss. While we cannot comment on 
claims raised in litigation, we always strive to hold ourselves to the 
highest safety standard,” a spokesperson for Roblox told NBC News.

Roblox said it is designed with “rigorous built in safety features” and is 
“continually innovating new safety features — over 100 this year alone — 
that protect our users and empower parents and caregivers with greater 
control and visibility.”

Safety efforts include processes to detect and act on problematic 
behaviors and 24/7 human moderation. Roblox added that the company 
partners with law enforcement and leading child safety and mental health 
organizations worldwide to combat the sexual exploitation of children.

While Discord has settings to keep minors safe such as automatically 
scanning messages for explicit images and videos, the suit said Discord is 
“overflowing with sexually explicit images and videos involving children, 
including anime and child sex abuse material.”

Discord said it doesn’t comment on legal matters but said the platform is 
“deeply committed to safety.”

“We require all users to be at least 13 to use our platform. We use a 
combination of advanced technology and trained safety teams to proactively 
find and remove content that violates our policies,” a spokesperson said. 
“We maintain strong systems to prevent the spread of sexual exploitation 
and grooming on our platform and also work with other technology companies 
and safety organizations to improve online safety across the internet.”

Other allegations against Roblox, Discord
Anapol Weiss, the firm that filed Dallas’ suit, noted this is the ninth 
lawsuit it has filed in connection with allegations that children were 
groomed, exploited or assaulted after contact on Roblox or related 
platforms.

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation in 2024 complied a “Dirty 
Dozen” list of mainstream entitles it says facilitate, enable and profit 
from sexual abuse and exploitation. It included Discord, saying “this 
platform is popular with predators seeking to groom kids and with creeps 
looking to create, trade or find sexually abusive content of children and 
unsuspecting adults,” and Roblox, saying children are exposed to sex-
themed games and exposed to predators.

An NBC News investigation in 2023 found 35 cases over the six years prior 
in which adults were prosecuted on charges of kidnapping, grooming or 
sexual assault that allegedly involved communications on Discord.

In August, Louisiana’s top prosecutor sued Roblox, alleging that its 
failure to implement strong safety protocols for children has made it “the 
perfect place for pedophiles.”

“This case lays bare the devastating consequences when billion-dollar 
platforms knowingly design environments that enable predators to prey on 
vulnerable children,” said Alexandra Walsh, a partner at Anapol Weiss. 
“These companies are raking in billions. Children are paying the price.”

Dallas seeks a jury trial and compensatory damages.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/roblox-discord-sued-15-year-old-boy-
was-allegedly-groomed-online-died-rcna231049