Problems With Roblox: Technical Outages, Safety Concerns, and Mounting Legal Battles

Roblox has become one of the most popular online gaming platforms in the world, boasting more than 110 million daily active users and billions of dollars in annual revenue. Its success stems from its unique model: players, many of them children, can design, play, and share their own games while interacting with millions of others in real time. Yet, beneath the surface of creativity and community, Roblox continues to face significant challenges that have sparked growing criticism. From technical outages to lawsuits alleging child exploitation, the problems with Roblox are piling up, threatening both its reputation and its future.

Technical Problems With Roblox: Downtime and Datastore Failures

One of the most common problems with Roblox is technical instability. In August 2025, Roblox experienced a major outage due to issues with its datastores—a critical part of its infrastructure that stores player progress and game data.

This outage was especially ill-timed, coinciding with the launch of the “Beanstalk Event” in the hit game Grow a Garden. Players logged in excited to cultivate Jack’s Beanstalk only to find their gardens failing to load, progress missing, or the game inaccessible altogether. Social media quickly exploded with hashtags like #RobloxDown, highlighting just how disruptive such outages can be for Roblox’s massive player base.

Developers clarified that the fault did not lie with Grow a Garden but with Roblox’s backend systems. While the company assured players that no progress had been permanently lost, the frustration underscored a long-standing reality: Roblox’s infrastructure sometimes struggles to keep up with its user growth.

For a platform that thrives on real-time interaction, even short outages have widespread consequences. Popular games lose engagement, events flop, and players question Roblox’s reliability. Technical failures like these, while not new in the online gaming world, are one of the recurring problems with Roblox that continue to irritate its community.

Safety Concerns: Protecting Children in a Virtual Playground

Technical hiccups are frustrating, but the more troubling problems with Roblox involve player safety. Roblox markets itself as a child-friendly platform, yet it has long been criticized for not adequately protecting its youngest users.

Moderation Challenges

Roblox allows open chat by default, meaning children can interact with strangers from around the globe. While the company employs both AI-driven filters and human moderators, these systems are not foolproof. Clever users can bypass restrictions using coded language, and once conversations move off-platform (to apps like Discord or Snapchat), moderation becomes nearly impossible.

Grooming and Exploitation Allegations

The darker side of Roblox’s safety issues involves cases of grooming and sexual exploitation. Over the years, reports have surfaced of adults using Roblox to befriend children, manipulate them, and sometimes lure them into real-world encounters.

• In 2024, Roblox reported over 24,000 cases of suspected child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a staggering increase from just 675 in 2019.

• By mid-2025, the company had already filed nearly as many reports as the entire previous year, showing that exploitation attempts are accelerating.

Families across the U.S. have filed lawsuits against Roblox, accusing the platform of creating a “hunting ground” for predators. Some of the most horrifying cases involve children as young as 10 being groomed, coerced into sending explicit images, or even kidnapped by predators they met on the platform.

Roblox insists it takes safety seriously, pointing to features like “Trusted Connections,” which restrict private chats to verified users, and 24/7 human moderation. Yet critics argue that these safeguards are too little, too late. The sheer scale of the platform makes complete protection nearly impossible.

Legal Problems With Roblox: Hundreds of Lawsuits Loom

The safety concerns have evolved into a massive legal battle. Attorneys across the U.S. are preparing to file hundreds of lawsuits against Roblox, many alleging that the platform enabled sexual exploitation and failed to provide adequate safeguards for minors.

• Dolman Law Group has already filed around 300 cases, with expectations that more than 1,000 lawsuits could be pending by next year.

• Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley claims to represent over 400 victims of abuse connected to Roblox and Discord.

• Attorneys general in states like Louisiana, New Jersey, and Florida have either filed lawsuits or issued subpoenas demanding Roblox’s internal documents on safety practices.

Internationally, countries such as Turkey, China, Jordan, and Qatar have banned Roblox entirely over child safety concerns, adding to the company’s regulatory headaches.

Roblox’s legal defense leans heavily on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which generally shields platforms from liability for user-generated content. However, critics argue that Roblox actively promotes itself as a safe environment for kids and profits immensely from their participation, thereby increasing its responsibility.

The Louisiana Attorney General recently described Roblox as the “perfect place for pedophiles,” a statement that reflects the growing intensity of government scrutiny.

Community Backlash: The Ban of “Schlep”

Roblox’s community also raised alarms when the company banned “Schlep,” a vigilante player who had become known for exposing predators on the platform. Schlep’s work reportedly led to several arrests, but Roblox claimed that vigilantes can create “unsafe environments.”

The move triggered a wave of backlash, with many players accusing Roblox of silencing someone who was actually protecting children. Around the same time, rumors spread that journalist Chris Hansen—famous for To Catch a Predator—was preparing an investigation into Roblox’s predator problem. Hansen later confirmed he was indeed working with law enforcement and victims to shine a spotlight on the issue.

This sequence of events further damaged Roblox’s credibility, reinforcing the perception that the company is out of touch with its own community.

Financial Fallout

All these problems with Roblox have started to hit its financial standing. Roblox’s stock (RBLX) has dropped repeatedly following lawsuits, bans, and public outcry.

• In mid-August 2025 alone, Roblox shares fell by 7–9%, fueled by lawsuits and community controversies.

• Analysts warn that heightened media exposure and regulatory actions could significantly increase risks for the company, even as some investors still view RBLX as a “Buy” due to long-term growth potential.

The contradiction is clear: Roblox remains financially successful, with revenues nearing $1 billion per quarter, but its public image is under siege. The company’s ability to balance growth with trust and safety will be critical to sustaining that financial momentum.

Why Parents Still Let Their Kids Play

Despite all these concerns, millions of parents continue to allow their children to play Roblox. Games like Adopt Me!, Blox Fruits, and Grow a Garden are wildly popular, and the platform offers an unprecedented mix of creativity, socialization, and entertainment.

Experts suggest that Roblox’s blocky graphics and branding give parents a false sense of security. The visuals may look childlike and harmless, but the risks behind the scenes are very real. As psychologist Rachel Kowert notes, “Parents assume that Roblox is made for children and that there are copious amounts of safeguards.” In reality, those safeguards are struggling to keep pace.

The Future: Can Roblox Fix Its Problems?

The big question is whether Roblox can overcome these challenges. The company has rolled out new measures in 2025, including:

• Restricting under-17 users from entering private “social hangouts” like virtual bedrooms or bathrooms.

• Expanding AI-driven moderation and third-party audits.

• Strengthening parental controls and age-verification systems.

Yet skepticism remains. Critics argue that these changes simply shift responsibility onto children and parents instead of addressing systemic issues. With lawsuits, government action, and media investigations looming, Roblox must prove that it can meaningfully improve safety without stifling the creativity that made it popular in the first place.

Conclusion

Roblox stands at a crossroads. It is a platform beloved by millions, yet simultaneously haunted by serious challenges. The problems with Roblox fall into three main categories:

1. Technical issues like datastores crashing and outages disrupting gameplay.

2. Safety concerns around grooming, exploitation, and inadequate moderation.

3. Legal and financial pressures from lawsuits, bans, and regulatory scrutiny.

The company has taken steps to address these problems, but many believe it is not enough. Until Roblox can strike the right balance between growth, safety, and stability, it will continue to face criticism, lawsuits, and backlash.

For parents, players, and investors alike, the lesson is clear: while Roblox may be a playground for creativity and fun, it is also a platform where vigilance is essential.