Roblox Bans YouTuber for Child Predator Hunting: What's Being Done to Protect Kids?

Rocketing in popularity over the past few years, child predator hunting has become a growing phenomenon on YouTube and other video platforms. But when a YouTuber with nearly a million subscribers across two channels went too far, Roblox stepped in to ban him permanently.

In a recent development, Schlep, a 22-year-old YouTuber, was banned from the popular online game platform Roblox for conducting child predator hunts on its platform. The move comes as authorities and creators alike are working to protect kids from predators who seek to exploit them online.

Schlep has been playing Roblox since he was in elementary school but claims that his experiences with the game took a dark turn when he was groomed by a popular developer. This developer manipulated him, exposed him to gore and NSFW material, and even made an attempt on his life.

Despite this traumatic experience, Schlep continued using Roblox, eventually starting his first YouTube channel, Maliboomer, where he plays the game Theme Park Tycoon 2. It was during this time that he noticed predators in the platform's innocent sandbox theme park games and started catching them himself.

Over the past couple of years, Schlep has been working with fellow creators to find adults trying to talk to children on Roblox. They claim to never initiate discussions but move conversations off-platform once a potential predator pushes the conversation in that direction.

Schlep and co. say their efforts have resulted in six arrests, some of them on felony charges. But despite this progress, they claim that law enforcement has not been doing enough to protect kids from predators online.

"We go to roblox.com/support, submit a moderation ticket, and then fill out the prompt with all the information regarding our arrest," Schlep said in an interview. "And in a lot of instances, Roblox won’t even ban after we reach out to them regarding felony arrests."

Roblox has taken steps to address this issue, stating that safety enforcement should be left to trained professionals and proper authorities, not individual users. However, Schlep claims that the platform is not taking sufficient action against predators.

"I literally felt so lost in trying to get the attention of Roblox regarding these predators," Schlep said. "I’ve created binders with all the chat logs and I’ve sent it to their headquarters in San Mateo."

Recently, Roblox permanently banned Schlep for conducting unauthorized and harmful activities on its platform that directly undermine its safety efforts and expose users to increased risk.

In a cease and desist letter to Schlep, Roblox said his actions included engaging in simulated child endangerment conversations, sharing or soliciting personally identifiable information, and directing users to move conversations off-platform. The company also warned it will pursue legal action if Schlep creates a new account for personal use or predator-hunting purposes.

Roblox claims that safety is its top priority and has robust Community Standards in place to prohibit content or behavior that may be inappropriate or harmful.

The platform also works closely with law enforcement agencies and has a trusted flagger program to report suspected serious criminal activity. However, Schlep and his fellow creators argue that more needs to be done to protect kids from predators online.

"Attacking someone so you can make money on social media is a crime," said Christopher L. de Barrena-Sarobe, District Attorney in Chester County, Pennsylvania. "Life is not a comic book – people don’t get to be Batman."

This news comes shortly after a family in California filed a suit against Roblox and Discord, alleging their 10-year-old daughter was groomed and manipulated by a 27-year-old man who met her on Roblox and used Discord to chat with her until she shared her home address.