Roblox takes down Robb Elementary School shooting game after Texas backlash

Roblox is responding to Texas' investigation after the Texas House Speaker directed a committee to investigate the company, which had a simulation game of the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting available for play.

Roblox's Chief Safety Officer Matt Kaufman said in a statement to USA TODAY on Tuesday, April 21, that any glorification of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, concerned the company and that the simulation game had been taken down.

"Behaviors that promote violent extremism and depictions of sensitive real-world events are against our policies, which we work tirelessly to enforce," read Kaufman's statement. "The content referenced by the Texas Speaker of the House has been removed and any users who upload such content are immediately banned from our platform upon detection."

Kaufman also stated Roblox has built a multi-layered safety system that includes AI-powered detection, monitoring teams, 24/7 moderation, user reporting tools and other safety features, including:

• Mandatory age checks with younger users being restricted to chatting with peers by default.
• Chat functions disabled for those under nine.
• New account types – Roblox Kids and Roblox Select – designed to limit users under 16 to an age-appropriate set of experiences. 

Why are Texas lawmakers investigating Roblox?

The response came less than a day after the Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows directed a Texas House Committee to investigate how online games expose minors to violent, sexual, and predatory content and how the state can address it.

"After Rep. Don McLaughlin of Uvalde brought to my attention a Roblox first-person shooter game simulating the tragedy at Robb Elementary in graphic detail, it became clear this content — and the failure to stop it — demands immediate action," Burrows said in a statement. "Turning an unspeakable act of violence, whose scars remain across the Uvalde community, into entertainment is a profound moral failure."

Burrows demanded that platforms like Roblox — noting that it sees nearly 40% of Roblox's 144 million daily users are under the age of 13 — be held accountable and directed the committee to look at the following:

• See whether a platform's safety features for kids — like parent controls and chat filters — work and whether it prioritizes user experience over safety.
• Examine Texas laws on age verification and parental consent, and consider their applicability to gaming platforms.
• Assess the potential civil and criminal liability of third-party content developers for harm to minors.
• Make recommendations for legislative and regulatory action to protect minors from exploitation on the platforms.

The Texas House Speaker also directed lawmakers to assess how much gaming platforms are shielded from lawsuits under the First Amendment and federal law, particularly Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

For context, Roblox is an online platform where people can play and build their own games.

But Robb Elementary wasn't the only mass shooting simulation found on Roblox. In a screenshot provided by the Texas speaker's office, it could also be seen that Roblox houses simulations of the 1999 Columbine and the 2018 Parkland school shooting events.

Mateo Rosiles is the Texas Connect reporter for USA TODAY and its regional papers in Texas. Got a news tip for him? Email him: [email protected].