Parents beware: Roblox is breeding ground for 764 network groomers

By Wendy Yurgo, Op-ed contributor Thursday, March 26, 2026

In my February op-ed, I warned parents that the comforting phrase “safe at home” on a screen is a dangerous lie.

The 764 network, a decentralized group of nihilistic violent extremists, was already using popular gaming apps to target children. What begins as innocent play quickly turns into grooming. Children are manipulated into producing child sexual abuse material, filming self-harm, and much worse. The blackmail and trauma that follow can destroy young lives.

In just weeks, the courts are already giving us more evidence.

Multiple state attorneys general and dozens of families have now sued Roblox. Roblox is not a single game. It is an open platform where users create and host their own games and interact directly with others, often without meaningful oversight. The company reports roughly 144 million daily active users, and 35 to 40% of them are under the age of 13. That means roughly 50 million young children are logging in every single day on a platform that parents are told is safe.

The complaints name the 764 network directly as one of the organized groups using the platform to target vulnerable children.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed suit in November 2025, accusing Roblox of putting “pixel pedophiles and corporate profit” over the safety of Texas children. The company stands accused of ignoring state and federal online safety laws while misleading parents about how well it protects kids. On March 6, 2026, a Texas judge ruled that core claims, including allegations of deceptive practices, can move forward.

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers filed suit on March 4, 2026. His complaint describes 764 as a “massive, worldwide cult of nihilistic violent extremists” that has repeatedly used Roblox to find and groom children before coercing them into explicit material and self-harm videos. One example cited is a 16-year-old girl who died by suicide after prolonged grooming by an individual she first encountered on Roblox, who was tied to the 764 network.

Kentucky’s earlier lawsuit described Roblox as a preferred environment for predators and detailed cases involving the grooming and exploitation of children. Additional actions have been filed in Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee, Iowa, and Los Angeles County, pointing to a pattern that is no longer isolated.

On the federal side, more than 130 cases are now consolidated in multidistrict litigation in California. Families describe the same pattern again and again. Children as young as 5 to 13 are approached through in-game chats, friend requests, and digital incentives that make it easy for predators to build trust. Once contact is established, the conversation quickly moves to private channels where oversight disappears, and harm escalates.

This is the exact digital safety crisis I warned about in my first piece. At that time, it was based on FBI alerts and parent reports. Now the lawsuits lay out the details, with specific references to 764 and devastating outcomes.

Parents cannot continue outsourcing their children’s safety to companies whose business model depends on keeping kids online for as long as possible. Roblox and similar platforms have had years to address these risks. They have not. The lawsuits make that clear.

The vulnerabilities are obvious. Children can be contacted easily. Identities can be faked. Conversations can move off platform in minutes and out of sight.

Parents need to act. Now.

Start with control of the account itself. Roblox allows parents to create and link a parent account to a child’s profile. Use it. Move your child’s account under your control. Lock down privacy settings. Restrict who can contact them. Disable or severely limit chat. If you are not in control of the account, you are not in control of who is reaching your child. Period.

Then go through the account together. Every friend. Every message. Every interaction. If you do not know who someone is, remove them. Immediately.

Do not assume a username is a child. It often is not.

Set rules and enforce them. Devices stay in common areas. No private, late-night use. No moving conversations to other apps without your knowledge. Not Discord. Not Snapchat. Not anywhere.

Have direct conversations. Ask your child who they are talking to. Ask if anyone has asked them to move off the platform. Ask if anyone has asked for photos, videos, or secrets.

Watch behavior closely. Withdrawal. Secrecy. Sudden anxiety around a device. These are not small signals. They are warnings.

And do not wait for proof.

By the time there is proof, the damage is already done.

If you discover exploitation or even suspect it, act immediately. Do not handle it quietly.

Preserve everything. Take screenshots. Save chats. Do not delete the account or messages.

Report it. File a report with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children through the Cyber Tip line at report.cybertip.org or call 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678). Contact your local law enforcement. Notify your state attorney general’s office. You can also submit a tip to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).

These cases move fast. Evidence matters. Delay protects the predator, not your child.

And support efforts to hold these companies accountable. Contact your state attorney general. Contact your representatives. Demand real safeguards and consequences when platforms allow known predator networks like 764 to operate.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been one of the strongest voices on this issue. He told me directly,

“It is unconscionable that Roblox has allowed pedophiles to operate all across its platform and take advantage of our children. It’s not only unbelievably immoral that the company is putting profits ahead of the protection of kids and lying to parents, but it’s also illegal. That’s why I’ve taken aggressive legal action against the company and will continue to fight any Big Tech corporation that wants to endanger our children and mislead parents.”

The people behind the 764 network are not going to stop. The companies enabling them are not going to fix this without pressure.

Protection starts at home.

Our children are the target.

Protect your children.