Dale County Chronicle
MONTGOMERY — Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced a $12.2 million settlement with Roblox Corporation aimed at strengthening online child safety protections and funding additional school resource officers across the state.
According to the announcement, the funds will be directed toward the Attorney General’s Safe School Initiative to support school resource officer programs in Alabama schools.
Marshall said the agreement sends a strong message to digital platforms that host young users.
“Alabama stepped in where others failed to act,” Marshall said. “This settlement sends a clear message to every platform operating in this space—you cannot turn a blind eye to the exploitation of children and expect to avoid consequences.”
As part of the settlement, Roblox will implement enhanced safety measures, including mandatory age verification for all users. The platform will use facial age estimation technology and government-issued identification to ensure users are accessing age-appropriate content. Behavioral monitoring will also be used to identify accounts that may have been inaccurately verified.
The agreement includes expanded parental controls, allowing parents to manage whom their children communicate with, what games they can access, and to restrict transfers of in-game currency, known as Robux, from untrusted users. For accounts without a parent linked, default protections will be applied to minor users.
Additional safeguards limit communication between users. Adults and users under the age of 16 will not be able to chat unless they are designated as “trusted friends.” For users under 13, parental consent is required to add trusted connections. Teens ages 13 to 15 may add trusted friends through approved methods unless a parent chooses otherwise.
The settlement also requires that communications involving minors remain unencrypted, allowing law enforcement to more easily detect and investigate potential exploitation, trafficking, or the spread of harmful content.
Roblox has further agreed to conduct safety workshops and awareness campaigns in Alabama, while establishing a liaison position to assist state and local law enforcement with investigations related to online safety concerns.
State officials emphasized that the agreement is among the first of its kind nationwide involving Roblox and follows months of negotiations handled entirely by the Attorney General’s Office. Because the case was managed internally, Alabama will retain the full settlement amount without paying outside legal fees.
The agreement also includes a “most favored nation” clause, ensuring Alabama will receive any more favorable terms granted to other states in future agreements with Roblox.
Officials said the settlement represents a broader effort to increase accountability for online platforms while providing parents and law enforcement with additional tools to protect children in digital spaces.
Residents experiencing issues related to Roblox are encouraged to contact the Alabama Attorney General’s Office for assistance.
