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   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   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.”   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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