Mother in California Accuses Discord and Roblox of Negligence, Citing Lack of Safety Measures as Reason for Son's Death
In a tragic turn of events, a California mother, Rebecca Dallas, has filed a lawsuit against the popular online platforms Roblox and Discord. The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court, alleges that the companies' lack of safety measures led to the grooming and eventual suicide of her 15-year-old son, Ethan Dallas.
Ethan, who started using Roblox around the age of 9 with his parents' permission, was initially lured into innocent conversations on the platform. However, the predator eventually encouraged him to deactivate parental controls on his Roblox account and move the conversation to Discord.
At the time of Ethan Dallas's death, both Roblox and Discord, despite offering parental-control features and being marketed as casual, gamer-oriented platforms, lacked age-related restrictions and effective mechanisms for identity verification. This allowed the predator to continue his grooming of Ethan unchecked.
On Discord, the predator increasingly demanded explicit photographs and videos from Ethan. The man who allegedly groomed Ethan Dallas was eventually arrested in Florida for sexually exploiting other children through Defendants' apps.
In response to the lawsuit, Discord stated that they do not comment on pending litigation. However, the company claims to have strong systems to prevent the spread of sexual exploitation and grooming on their platform. Discord uses a combination of advanced technology and trained safety teams to proactively find and remove content that violates their policies.
Discord also works with other technology companies and safety organizations to improve online safety across the internet. The company requires all users to be at least 13 to use their platform.
Roblox, on the other hand, has a default setting that prohibits communications between minors and adults. However, children can still bypass this restriction by entering a fake birth date. The man who allegedly groomed Ethan Dallas was not specified as a user of Discord in the lawsuit.
The Dallas family's attorneys claim that had Roblox and Discord taken safety measures, Ethan would not have interacted with the predator, suffered harm, or died by suicide. The lawsuit against OnlyFans, filed by Rebecca Dallas in April 2024, alleges that her son was deceived through sexual exploitation which led to his suicide.
Together, Roblox and Discord are used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The tragedy serves as a stark reminder of the importance of online safety, particularly for children, and the need for stricter measures to prevent grooming and sexual exploitation on these platforms.
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