It’s contradictory that the association gave Roblox a positive assessment while lawsuits were being filed against the game.

The Attorney General Alliance (AGA), a bipartisan group of US state attorneys general that addresses emerging issues such as cannabis regulation and sports betting, has launched a new initiative to promote online safety for young people. Its first partner in the gaming industry is Roblox. The AGA has praised Roblox for promoting safer and more positive digital experiences for all through improved product design. However, this is somewhat strange, as two AGA members are suing Roblox: Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman.

The Partnership for Youth Online Safety project aims to reduce online harm by developing practical, collaborative, and measurable protective measures based on planning. These measures will enable public and private sector partners to work together more effectively to better protect children. This includes developing standards and best practices for safe product design; systems to prevent the online exploitation, grooming, and harassment of children; standards for data sharing between private companies and law enforcement agencies; improved parental awareness and education; and lasting, trust-based partnerships between government, industry, and advocacy groups to accelerate responses to new threats. The initiative’s first partners are the Center for Humane Technology, a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring technology serves humanity, and Roblox, one of the most popular video game platforms, especially among young players.

“This partnership with the Attorney General Alliance marks a significant milestone in our ongoing commitment to online child safety. By combining our decades of experience in this field with the authority of the Attorneys General, we can swiftly co-design and deploy the next generation of protective tools and frameworks. This collaboration will help set new safety standards across the digital ecosystem used by children and teenagers. At Roblox, we are constantly innovating and investing in safeguards, including AI and human moderation, real-time chat filtering, and proactive content scanning, to create a positive and secure environment for the millions of people who create and play on our platform every day,” said Roblox CEO David Baszucki.

The AGA partnership contrasts sharply with the lawsuits filed by Louisiana in August and Kentucky in October and the recent criminal investigation launched by Florida. These have resulted in some rather harsh statements from prosecutors. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said that Roblox is essentially a free-for-all for sexual predators. Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman called Roblox a hunting ground for child predators and accused the company of deliberately refusing to implement basic safety measures. Murrill responded to the announcement on Twitter and did not seem particularly impressed; however, she significantly softened the inflammatory tone. She wants more than lobbying; she wants significant protection for children.

The AGA does not dictate policy, as it is more of a working group where state attorneys general can share ideas, discuss issues, and occasionally get together for food and drinks. So Roblox partnering with it on this program won’t directly prevent any lawsuits, but it may make them somewhat more complicated, because it’s much harder to accuse a platform of being a haven for sexual predators when your professional working group holds it up as an example of online protection… and that may help ward off other potential government lawsuits in the future.

Source: PC Gamer, PR Newswire