Bucks County District Attorney adds Roblox, Discord, X to lawsuit against social media companies

Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan announced an expansion of a federal lawsuit against social media and technology companies, adding Roblox, Discord, Meta, and X to the legal action originally filed in 2023. The lawsuit targets platforms including TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Snapchat, accusing them of using deceptive practices to addict children while failing to implement sufficient safety measures. The expanded lawsuit highlights concerns over Roblox’s design, including its lack of effective age verification and parental notifications, which enabled a 32-year-old man from Upper Southampton Township to exploit minors in Tennessee and North Carolina. Khan emphasized that the platform’s addictive gameplay and weak safeguards create risks for children. The lawsuit also marks Bucks County as the first jurisdiction to sue X, alleging its platform and AI chatbot lack adequate child protection. Local authorities noted one Bucks County resident was charged with using X to create AI-generated child pornography, with additional cases under investigation. Since the original lawsuit, some named platforms have settled with other plaintiffs but not Bucks County. Khan urged other counties to pursue similar legal action, stating, ‘These companies can and should do more to ensure their products are not used as a backdoor for predators.’ The district attorney’s office has not received responses from the newly included companies. The expansion reflects broader concerns about online safety, with officials arguing that platforms prioritize engagement over child protection. Diane M. Ellis-Marseglia, chair of the Bucks County Board of Commissioners, called for accountability, saying, ‘We should have known the risks, but we didn’t, so now we will look forward to preventing such failures.’