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Louisiana sues Roblox alleging the popular gaming site fails to protect children

Louisiana sues Roblox alleging the popular gaming site fails to protect children

Independent4 days ago
Louisiana sued the online gaming platform Roblox on Thursday, alleging the wildly popular site has perpetuated an environment where sexual predators "thrive, unite, hunt and victimize kids.'
The lawsuit, filed in state court by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, alleges that Roblox has failed to implement effective safety measures to protect child users from adult predators.
'Due to Roblox's lack of safety protocols, it endangers the safety of the children of Louisiana,' Murrill said in a news release. 'Roblox is overrun with harmful content and child predators because it prioritizes user growth, revenue, and profits over child safety."
The company has faced lawsuits and backlash for not doing enough to protect kids on its gaming services. Last month, a lawsuit was filed in Iowa after a 13-year-old girl was allegedly introduced to an adult predator on the platform, then kidnapped and trafficked across multiple states and raped.
In Louisiana, Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard said his office has had multiple cases involving Roblox. In one, police allege a man used voice-altering technology to pose as a girl on the platform. Ard said there have yet to be any arrests made related to the gaming site.
Ultimately, Murrill said she believes Roblox should be shut down.
An email seeking comment was sent to the company Thursday.
The free online gaming platform has more than 111 million monthly users. Its website describes Roblox as "the ultimate virtual universe that lets you create, share experiences with friends, and be anything you can imagine.'
Roblox doesn't allow users to share videos or images in chats and tries to block any personal information, such as phone numbers. However, as with other gaming platforms and social media sites with similar policies, people find ways around such safeguards.
Roblox, which according to its website has 'a zero-tolerance policy for the exploitation of minors,' doesn't allow children under 13 to chat with other users outside of games unless they have explicit parental permission. Because the platform does not encrypt private chat conversations, the company can monitor and moderate them.
However, Murrill said there is no age minimum or substantial age verification process once a user signs up. As a result, young children, teens and adults posing as children can sign up, she said.
The company says on its website that age verification "is a new feature that is currently in testing on Roblox.' Last month, it launched a feature that requires teenagers aged 13 to 17 to send a video selfie to verify their ages if they want to chat freely with people they know, called 'trusted connections.'
Amid mounting criticism in recent months, the company has implemented additional measures that it says will keep their young users safe.
In August, Roblox told AP that it was rolling out an artificial intelligence system to help detect early signs of possible child endangerment, such as sexually exploitive language. Roblox said the system led it to submit 1,200 reports of potential attempts at child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the first half of 2025.
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The new lawsuit claim Kruse and Fialko restructured her finances, negotiated settlements and increased her event profits from under $10,000 to as much as $50,000 per show. The plaintiffs claim they formed several companies with Presley to 'exploit her NIL [Name, image, likeness] and invested 'large sums of money in merchandise, events, and marketing tied to Presley's image to enhance her depleted value.' The suit also alleges Presley falsely claimed ownership of her NIL, despite secretly selling the rights to the last name Presley and Graceland in 2005 for $6.5 million. It was alleged she 'never disclosed' this to Kruse and Fialko and later claimed that she 'forgot' about the deal. Morgan is accused of befriending Presley, threatening Kruse, and helping persuade Presley to sever ties with the plaintiffs by making elder abuse claims. It was claimed Morgan contacted Presley after the settlement saying that he could get the rights to her name, image and likeness back from Elvis Presley Enterprises, which manages Elvis Presley's intellectual property. The suit alleges after the settlement in 2023 Presley 'cut ties' with Priscilla Presley Partners, 'undermined their ventures, and began exploiting her NIL on her own, including high-profile appearances on NBC's Christmas at Graceland,, comic conventions, and promotional events) without disclosing or sharing proceeds. Presley is also accused of taking funds from company bank accounts and closing them without authorization and diverting endorsement payments to herself. Jordan Matthews, attorney for Kruse and Fialko, exclusively claimed to the Daily Mail: 'Our lawsuit demonstrates for the first time where Priscilla got the idea to claim elder abuse. 'We have thorough documentation to show that the idea came from Keya Morgan, who is now a co-defendant in this lawsuit, making him a serial comic book villain in what we intend to demonstrate is a real life tale of lives destroyed due to one woman's desperation and greed.' He added: 'As detailed video recordings and communications already confirm, there is absolutely no evidence of undue influence, coercion, or elder abuse involved, only a legitimate, well-documented business partnership. 'The evidence will establish that the real victims here are my clients, who invested millions and years of hard work into revitalizing Priscilla Presley's brand, only to be betrayed and falsely accused once the money was on the table and every personal and business issue had been resolved. 'Our complaint alleges that Priscilla targeted Kruse and Fialko from day one, when she was in dire financial need, faced with mounting IRS debt and multiple lawsuits, even within her own family. 'The complaint alleges that Priscilla's relationship with her daughter was in ruins for decades and long before Kruse and Fialko were involved. Kruse and Fialko invested seven figures into rebuilding Priscilla's brand, stabilizing her finances, settling her lawsuits, cleaning up numerous private family ordeals, and attempting to help Priscilla repair her relationship with her daughter. Priscilla has, in turn, smeared Kruse and Fialko with false lies and malicious campaigns.' The plaintiffs are seeking more than $50 million in damages, including punitive damages, along with injunctive relief to stop Presley from using her name, image or likeness outside of the 'agreed upon corporate structures.' The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Keya Morgan for comment and has yet to hear back. In court papers, which were filed in September 2023, Kruse said Presley had been 'about 60 days away from financial collapse' when she swooped in and got her affairs in order. Kruse said that she and the actress began a company Priscilla Presley Partners in 2022. Kruse told the court that she spent 'a significant amount of money and time' working on projects for Priscilla to capitalize on from publicity of the Sofia Coppola biopic Priscilla, which was released in October of 2023. Priscilla's lawyer Singer said in 2024 that the star ceased working with Kruse when she found out 'Kruse and her associate were attempting to misappropriate Ms. Presley's assets and were engaging in other acts of wrongdoing.' In July 2024 Presley accused Kruse, Fialko, Sislyan and Walker Wright of financial elder abuse in a lawsuit, and 'forcing her into a form of indentured servitude' in a 'meticulously planned and abhorrent scheme.' Presley said she met Kruse in 2021 when Kruse ran a business selling Elvis memorabilia through an auction house. Kruse posed alongside Presley in an August 27, 2021 Instagram post in which she advertised a September 4, 2021 luncheon in Beverly Hills, California. The lawsuit claimed Kruse convinced Presley her former financial advisors were either 'deceitful or incompetent' - before allegedly duping her into signing contracts and forming companies which allowed her and her associates to get 80 per cent of her income - leaving Presley with 'just 20 percent of her own company.' Presley claimed the group left her with minority shares in companies they created which profited off her 'name, image and likeness'. The lawsuit was also against Priscilla Presley Partners, LLC. The lawsuit alleged funds from 2023 biopic Priscilla which starred Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny were also misappropriated and branded Kruse a 'con artist and pathological liar.' Presley also claimed her ex-business associates 'torpedoed' a deal for the star to get an ownership interest in a cosmetics company - but instead settled for a $300,000 upfront payment - which she says they put in their own bank accounts. The lawsuit claimed the associates were 'setting up new accounts at their preferred banks (and poisoning the relationship Presley had for many years with her financial institutions), adding themselves to her bank accounts, transferring funds between accounts (and to their own personal accounts), and entering into sham, insider transactions for their own benefit.' The lawsuit also claimed Kruse and associates took $40,000 out of an account for her son Navarone Garibaldi without authorization, tried to make deals related to the late Lisa Marie's estate and fraudulently charged Presley for moving and storage expenses. Presley sued Kruse for more than $1million in damages and wanted the contracts she signed with Kruse and the other defendants voided. Legal representatives for Kruse and Fialko told the Daily Mail at the time: 'The suit filed is a retaliatory lawsuit due to the one filed by Priscilla's business partners last year. 'We are confident that the facts will speak for themselves and justice will prevail. It saddens all of us who dropped our lives to provide aid to a woman who needed help and she is now attempting to use her celebrity status to ruin the lives of kind, hardworking people.'

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