Roblox and Discord face lawsuits

In February, a lawsuit was filed against Roblox, a popular online gaming platform, and Discord, a leading online messaging site. Filed by law firm Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy, this lawsuit claims that adults use these platforms to contact and exploit minors.

Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy filed the lawsuit on behalf of the family of a 13-year-old boy, who was an avid user of both Roblox and Discord. The family claimed that they let their son have access to these platforms since they were led to believe they were safe for children. However, in 2024, the parents learned Roblox and Discord had enabled an adult — later identified as 27-year-old Sebastian Romero — to coerce the boy to send explicit images and information. After more investigation, authorities identified more than 25 other victims in the San Mateo area targeted by Romero.

Some students believe that the lawsuit is fair, but that situations like this are inevitable on the web.

“The lawsuit could be justified, but the individual users should be more cautious and alert while talking to others so they can spot something suspicious,” said junior Kaitlyn Zee. 

However, Junior Bradley Lum hasn’t experienced such behavior on Discord.

“Anytime you’re on an online space, you’re bound to run into people who are going to use it for not what it was intended to,” Lum said. “I’ve been on Discord for a pretty long time, and I’ve never encountered any dubious messenger.” 

For students at Aragon, most have had a positive experience on these platforms. Many students use them for convenience and ease of communication with others, especially in school and social settings. 

“Discord is very useful for communication [in robotics] because there’s not really another platform where it’s easy to add people and have announcements,” said freshman Ryan Li. “And I use Roblox for gaming and talking with friends.” 

Some find Discord more useful than other communication methods.

“On Discord you can do a lot more things compared to iMessages or other [messaging apps] like that,” Lum said. “[On] Discord you can message someone. You can call them. You can play games with each other [on] it. You can also send gifts and other files through it. With texting, it is a bit harder to do. Discord is [also] on the web, while iMessage is an app.”

Over the years, similar situations to the recent lawsuit have occurred. Regarding the case, some have proposed enacting consequences on the two platforms or having them change their current setup to make it safer for adolescents. However, some believe that while what happened was unfortunate, ultimately flawed user skills were at fault and not the platforms themselves.

“I hope not much comes out of the lawsuit in terms of consequences,” Lum said. “If they try to force people’s choices and actions, like being able to access this or that, it’s really infringing on people’s freedoms. And I think that the lawsuit is in the right place, but at the same time, the family could have taught their son to not talk to people that they don’t know on the internet. I’ve never experienced it, but I know that there will always be stories about cyberbullying and all that stuff, but that’s what happens on the internet. You can’t really prevent it.” 

A solution for the platforms could be to monitor all user activity. 

“I guess I can understand why they want to enact consequences, but there’s not much Discord and Roblox could do unless they track all messages and that sacrifices user privacy and freedoms,” Zee said. “It’s easy to start talking to some people you don’t know on Discord, but you can also do that on other social media platforms. Either way, as long as you’re online, there’s a risk of endangering yourself.” 

While there are already measures in place to help prevent harassment, there are still ways around it. 

“Chats on Roblox are already heavily censored, there’s not much they can do,” Li said. “It’s hard to prevent this kind of stuff without infringing on user privacy.” 

Cyberbullying and other online harassment are prevalent in today’s society, and many believe that it is up to the users to use them responsibly. 

“Really, the platforms are just tools,” Lum said. “It’s what people do with those tools that make it dangerous. They could make it a bad place or a good place. Platforms also often have their own user agreements, and that protects them any time that a user might do something that was not intended for.” 

While platforms like Roblox and Discord provide valuable communication tools, they also pose risks that require vigilance from both users and developers. Digital safety is a shared responsibility, which involves platforms, parents and users alike.