Broadcast journalist Chris Hansen, known for his "To Catch A Predator" series on "Dateline NBC," has joined in the investigations of Roblox over child exploitation issues. Roblox stock has fallen on concerns that the youth-centric gaming and social platform has failed to protect children from sex predators.
On Friday, Roblox stock tumbled 6.3% on news that Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has sued the company, claiming it failed to enforce safety controls to protect children on the service. She also alleged that Roblox facilitates the "distribution of child sexual abuse material."
The lack of strong age verification processes or parental permission allows adults to pose as children and minors to bypass requirements intended for child protection, she said.
Late Friday, Hansen announced on X that he is working with law enforcement, victims, and advocacy groups to investigate Roblox.
Hanson is known for his sting operations exposing child sex offenders. On "To Catch A Predator," he would surprise accused offenders and then interview them after saying his famous catchphrase, "Why don't you have a seat right over there?" He now makes programs for the Tru Blu streaming service.
"The investigation adds to mounting legal and reputational pressure on Roblox," Benchmark analyst Mike Hickey said in a client note Monday. "With hundreds of millions of active users, heightened media exposure could amplify regulatory and consumer risks for the company."
Roblox Stock Has Doubled This Year
On Friday, Roblox responded to the Louisiana lawsuit with a statement.
"Any assertion that Roblox would intentionally put our users at risk of exploitation is simply untrue," the company said. "No system is perfect and bad actors adapt to evade detection."
The company said it is continuously working to improve safety on its platform.
"At Roblox, we are constantly innovating safety tools and launching new safeguards," it said. "In the past year, Roblox has introduced over 40 new features to protect its youngest users and empower parents and caregivers with greater control, including updated parental controls, stricter defaults for users under 13, and new content maturity labels."
Roblox stock is up 107% year to date on strong revenue growth.
On the stock market today, Roblox stock climbed 2.2% to close at 119.95.
Follow Patrick Seitz on X at @IBD_PSeitz for more stories on consumer technology, software and semiconductor stocks.
