Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announces at a news conference on Tuesday that the state reached a settlement with Roblox, a company the operates an online gaming platform for children, for $12.2 million that will provide for more school resource officers throughout the state. (Ralph Chapoco/Alabama Reflector)
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office Tuesday said it reached a $12.2 million agreement with Roblox, a company that operates an online gaming platform, to settle a series of lawsuits that alleged the company failed to implement security measures that could have prevented adults who used the site from taking advantage of children.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement that the state “stepped in where others failed to act.”
“We have now established a framework that other states can and should use,” the statement said. ”Platforms that host child consumers must do their part to give parents a fighting chance to shield their children from harm.”
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Money from the settlement agreement will be deposited into a fund to give additional resources to school resource officers. Roblox also said it would work to prevent adults on the platform from interacting with children.
Matt Kaufman, chief safety officer for Roblox, said in a statement that the settlement “reflects a shared commitment to the safety and well-being of Alabama students.”
“This resolution supports Alabama’s Safe School Initiative and the vital role of school resource officers, and reinforces our work to set the gold standard for digital safety,” the statement said. “We value this collaboration with the state of Alabama and remain dedicated to our shared goal of helping protect young people online.”
Marshall said that a team will develop criteria to determine which schools will receive funding from the settlement agreement to allow for additional school resources officers on the premises. He said he preferred to allocate the money based on the needs of schools.
“I think you can look at the example that we used for county and local money for the opioid settlement in understanding how that was distributed,” Marshall said at the news conference. “We came up with a formula that looked at where are the issues, where are the needs, and driving money to be able to address those who needed it the most.”
He said information will be provided to schools through multiple channels to allow them to apply for the funding.
Katherine Robertson, chief counsel at the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, and Republican candidate for attorney general, said during the news conference that users will need to verify their age through facial recognition and by submitting identification to the site before they can use the chat feature that is available.
The company will also prevent adults from interacting with users who are younger than 16 years old through the chat feature without the parents’ permission and the messages between minors will not be encrypted.
“Roblox is meeting parents halfway, but there is still an extremely important role for parents to play,” Robertson said. “I don’t want anyone to read a news article about today’s press conference and think that they can be hands off.”
From Alabama Reflector Post Url: Visit
Author: Ralph Chapoco