Once, danger lurked at the edge of playgrounds. Today, it hides behind screens, usernames, and avatars. Instead of lingering near swingsets and parks, predators send friend requests, build false connections, and deceive unknowing individuals across the world. With the rise of the internet more users are vulnerable and put at risk than ever, especially children ages twelve to fifteen. From catfishes and scammers to predators, online spaces are home to blackmail, online grooming, and human trafficking. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 88% of their annual reports of child sex trafficking and prosecution incidents originate online. The FBI has reported that over 500,000 predators are active online everyday, notably on spaces such as Roblox and Discord. Online safety extends beyond privacy settings and scam prevention, and instead raises questions about trust, moderation systems, and the architecture of digital environments. The real threat isn’t just who’s behind the screen, but also how danger is handled. 

“Where children play, predators prey,” warns internet safety advocate Donna Rice Hughes. This quote is a chilling truth that’s evident across some of the most deceptive areas online: gaming platforms. Designed for entertainment and communication, these platforms often entail a more sinister truth, encompassing many features that enable exploitation and grooming. For instance, Discord is one of the most popular apps among young users for chat, voice, and video, yet it notoriously acts as a hub for sexual exploitation. One sextortion scheme on the app involved a group of predatory users who coerced a 14-year-old girl into sending explicit photos and blackmailed her into doing degrading actions. After further investigation, it was discovered that the perpetrators were boys and men that sought out vulnerable children with mental health issues. This is just one case of many instances involving the exploitation of minors. 

NBC News notes that in recent years, at least 35 identified cases of kidnapping, grooming, and sexual assault are attributed to Discord communications. Experts believe this number only scratches the surface. Unregulated private servers and anonymous profiles make it easy for predators  to misuse the platform. Despite Discord efforts to address child abuse and safety problems, concerns remain on the insufficient moderation, slow complaint response time, and the accessibility of its platforms to underage users. Experts continue to stress the importance of rapid response to reports and stronger detection methods, criticizing the popular communication app. Alarmingly, Discord isn’t alone in this issue. 

Popular gaming platform Roblox with millions of players daily is now facing multiple lawsuits for failing to enforce adequate safety measures. While Roblox is marketed as a child-friendly space, it has become increasingly more weaponized for predation, especially due to the undercontrolled ability to create inappropriate content, avatars, and accounts. The open-ended design option was intended to give users creative freedom, but age-inappropriate games including “Public Bathroom Simulator,” “Escape to Epstein Island,” and “Diddy Party” persist unmoderated, leading to several horrific cases. One lawsuit in May alleged that a 13-year-old girl from Iowa was kidnapped and raped by a 37-year-old man through Roblox, stating that the platform created a “hunting ground” for child-sex predators. Martin D. Gould, Founding Partner of Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley, states, “This case exposes how one of the world’s largest platforms deliberately chose profits over the safety of children.” He explains how Roblox claims that it has zero tolerance for child endangerment while choosing not to implement proper safeguards because it could potentially lower their user engagement metric. 

With the gathering storm of controversy surrounding child safety protocols, Louisiana’s Attorney General Liz Murrill announced that she would sue Roblox for failing to protect children. Similar to Gould, she accused Roblox of prioritizing user growth, revenue, and profits over child safety. Ironically, Roblox stock prices actually began to crash when the company falsely threatened to sue a child predator hunter. The market collapse correlated directly with Louisiana’s lawsuit, as users expressed outrage over Roblox’s lack of action. Thousands even petitioned for the removal of Roblox CEO David Baszucki for failing to act quickly against predators and abusers, allowing the circulation of dangerous content, punishing concerned community members, and ignoring calls for reform. In response to the spate of criticism, on September 3, Roblox announced a new facial age estimation tool to enhance the protection of minors. This new system will use facial analysis, ID verification, and parental consent to confirm a user's real age, intending to reduce the chances of child-adult interactions. In addition, Roblox is partnering with the International Age Rating Coalition to assign official age ratings for content to give more confidence to parents regarding appropriate material. 

Whether updates in platforms such as Discord and Roblox are effective or not, they are a step in the right direction, acknowledging that online spaces must evolve and adapt to digital shifts. However, looking ahead, besides current exploitation cases involving catfishing and fake profiles, human trafficking investigators are increasingly concerned about new technologies like AI chatbots and fake video images further exacerbating online protection issues. More advanced technologies introduce new layers of risks that may be more difficult to regulate. The future of online safety is entering a turbulent era. The digital world is a tangled web, and without structural change and regulation, platforms may continue to normalize exploitation. 

Information retrieved from Hope for Justice, TED, NBC News, The Washington Post, Wired, and Forbes