Roblox is at the center of a lawsuit alleging defrauding children “by removing items they bought from their in-game avatar store without making a refund.”

Roblox, a popular gaming platform, was recently the victim of a lawsuit for defrauding children. “by deleting the items they bought in the game Avatar Shop without reimbursing. The lawsuit was filed by John Dennis, a Michigan father, and his daughter, named Jane Doe in the lawsuit. It was filed on May 25 and claimed Roblox “offers fictitious content moderation by removing items sold and then refusing to refund users after items have been removed from inventory. “

It is important to note that Roblox is not just a game. Rather, it is a platform for “18 million games called experiences created by independent developers”. It recently debuted on the New York Stock Exchange with a direct listing of $ 44 billion. Every day, the platform receives around 32.6 users, many of whom are under the age of 16.

According to the lawsuit, Doe purchased “digital pajamas and jeans from the Avatar store using Robux, an in-game currency… Players can purchase Robux for 400 Robux for $ 4.99 and 10,000 Robux for $ 99.99.” However, Doe complaints the platform deleted its articles, “which its lawyer said did not contain offensive or trademarked content – without providing a refund.” His items were then removed from his inventory without warning or explanation.

Lily Hough is one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs. Commenting on the question, she mentionned Roblox’s content moderation process is “a cover for its attempt to generate additional income from its users, who are predominantly children.” It added:

“The (company’s) decision to sell first and ‘moderate’ later has (a) clear monetary benefit to Roblox. By the time the defendant removed items from the Avatar store and user inventories, they had already taken their 30% commission on the sale. “

It added:

“The result is a win-win for Roblox. Removing content that might on its face violate platform policies makes Roblox appear to be content moderation while being in line with Roblox’s financial interests. The system allows Roblox to take the blame for removing user content without issuing refunds, forcing users to make new purchases to replace their gaming experience. ”

Another important thing to note is that the platform’s refund policy is not standardized. In the support section of the website, Roblox States:

“Where possible, we work directly with parents and customers under our permissive refund policy to provide a refund for unauthorized purchases. However, some third-party payment processors require refunds to go through their support services and Roblox is unable to reimburse charges from these providers. ”

Sources:

Lawsuit alleges Roblox scammed kids by selling in-game items, then removing them without refunding

Roblox is being sued for allegedly defrauding children by selling in-game items and then deleting them without a refund.