He hunted down alleged groomers in Roblox. Then the company blocked him

Kentucky last month Attorney General Russell Coleman has announced details of another lawsuit against Roblox over suspected child molesters lurking on the hugely popular gaming platform.

In doing so, Coleman highlighted the work of a self-described “predator hunter” who he claims has helped identify alleged abusers who mingle with young players.

“Roblox is trying to silence those who have raised these security risks,” Coleman said. “The famous case of one of the developers of this company, Schlepp, immediately comes to mind.”

Schlepp is actually Michael, a 22-year-old Texan who has spent the last two years working with a group of other Roblox players to track down and identify people who allegedly seek to groom young children on the platform — predators like the one Schlepp says he allegedly groomed a decade ago, which, he says, drove him to attempt suicide.

In the process of trying to weed out suspected hackers, Schleib — who is not sharing his surname for privacy reasons — has amassed 2.3 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, where he highlights what he believes are flaws in Roblox’s security features and reveals the identities of the alleged predators he has tracked.

But on August 8, Schlip received a cease and desist letter from Roblox, and immediately, all of his accounts were banned. The days of hunting predators are over.

“Although Roblox acknowledges that your stated intentions may be to protect children, and although it recognizes the dangerous nature of online predatory behavior, your tactics, including failing to immediately report suspicious activity to Roblox through appropriate channels, actively interfere with Roblox’s established security protocols and, more importantly, expose Roblox users to increased risks,” the company wrote in the letter reviewed by WIRED.

Roblox’s cease and desist against Schlep comes amid mounting pressure against the company. Over the past four months, several states have launched high-profile legal actions alleging that the gaming platform has become a hunting ground for pedophiles who prey on its youngest and most vulnerable users.

In August, the Louisiana Attorney General filed a lawsuit alleging that Roblox “enabled and intentionally facilitated the sexual exploitation and abuse of children.” In October, Florida Attorney General James Othmeier issued criminal subpoenas to the company to assess whether it was “helping predators access and harm children.” Earlier this month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Roblox, alleging that it “puts child molesters and profits ahead of the safety of Texas children.”

On November 18, activist groups UltraViolet and ParentsTogether Action organized a virtual protest within Roblox to present a petition calling on company CEO David Baszowski to “put children’s safety before engagement metrics.”