x

Speaker Dustin Burrows asks Texas House to investigate Roblox in response to game simulating Uvalde shooting

Speaker Dustin Burrows asks Texas House to investigate Roblox in response to game simulating Uvalde shooting
2 hours 3 minutes 15 seconds ago Monday, April 20 2026 Apr 20, 2026 April 20, 2026 6:15 PM April 20, 2026 in News - AP Texas Headlines
Source: The Texas Tribune
Arthur Grenner, 13, left, Chad Darden, 12, and Steve Yanes, 13, at right, engage with the video game platform Roblox during the Thousand Oaks Teen Center's reopening celebration in Thousand Oaks, California on March 10, 2023. Juan Carlo/Ventura County Star/USA TODAY Network via REUTERS

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows on Monday targeted Roblox for alleged child endangerment, after learning the platform offered a simulation of the 2022 Uvalde mass shooting.

Burrows instructed lawmakers to study ways to strengthen child safety and accountability for virtual gaming, singling out Roblox, an online platform and community where people can play and design their own games. In a news release, he call Roblox a place where “exploitative content and nominal safeguards are exposing Texas children to ongoing endangerment.” The charge adds to a list of policy priorities Burrows has focused the House around ahead of next year’s legislative session.

“Turning an unspeakable act of violence, whose scars remain across the Uvalde community, into entertainment is a profound moral failure,” Burrows said in a statement. “The State of Texas demands accountability — not a system that profits from violence and provocation while exposing young minds to hateful content. Lawmakers cannot stand by while a platform aimed at children enables and monetizes this kind of abuse.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Roblox in November for allegedly exposing children to sexually explicit content and exploitation. The company has faced a flurry of lawsuits from states and local governments, including Los Angeles County, alleging child endangerment.

Burrows instructed the House State Affairs Committee to evaluate “content moderation practices, enforcement gaps and the adequacy of existing child safety protections, noting that nearly 40% of Roblox’s 144 million daily users are under the age of 13.

He directed lawmakers to recommend proposals to “enforce accountability that

are unconstrained by federal preemption or immunity defenses,” assess the possible civil and criminal liability of third-party content developers on platforms like Roblox, study the potential applicability of age verification and parental consent laws to gaming platforms, and “determine the extent to which platforms prioritize user engagement over safety.”

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.

More News

Radar
7 Days