In Roblox, he hunted men apparently. Then the company banned him
Last month, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman has announced details of another lawsuit against Roblox over suspected pedophiles lurking on the wildly popular gaming platform.
In doing so, Coleman outlined the work of a self-described “hunter-gatherer,” who he claims helped identify alleged abusers who mingled with young gamers.
“Roblox is even trying to silence those who raised these security risks,” Coleman said. “The famous case of one of their developers, Shellp, immediately comes to mind.”
Schlepp is, in fact, Michael, a 22-year-old from Texas who has spent the past 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 allegedly groomed him a decade ago, which he says led him to try to take his own life.
Schlepp — who won’t share his last name for privacy reasons — has amassed 2.3 million subscribers to his YouTube channel, where he highlights what he believes are flaws in Roblox’s safety features and reveals the identities of alleged predators he’s tracked down in the process of trying to out the dubious groomers.
But on August 8, Schlap received a cease-and-desist letter from Roblox, and all of his accounts were immediately suspended. His hunter days were over.
“While Roblox acknowledges that your stated intent may be to protect children, and while it recognizes the serious nature of online predatory behavior, your practices, including failure to immediately report suspicious activity to Roblox through the appropriate channels, actively interfere with Roblox’s established safety protocols and seriously place users at increased risk by Roblox Corporation,” the ED wrote.
Roblox’s cease and desist against Shlp comes amid growing 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 complaint alleging that Roblox “knowingly enabled and facilitated the systematic sexual exploitation and abuse of children.” In October, Florida Attorney General James Ottmeier issued criminal subpoenas to the company to assess whether it helped predators reach and harm children. And earlier this month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Roblox, claiming it was “putting pixelated pedophiles and profit over the safety of Texas children.”
On November 18, activist groups UltraViolet and ParentsTogether Action held a virtual protest inside Roblox to present a petition calling on CEO David Bazoki to “put child safety above nomination criteria.”
