Roblox and Discord sued over teen’s death

The death of a vulnerable teenager has sparked yet another lawsuit against the online gaming platform Roblox and messaging site Discord.

Ethan Dallas was 15 years old when he took his own life.

Dallas, who was autistic, had trouble forming relationships with his peers and took to the online gaming platform Roblox to forge online connections.

The teenager was a loyal and longtime Roblox player, entering the online gaming world at just seven years old.

In the pursuit of companionship, Dallas connected with another player, Nate, whom he believed to be his peer.

The pair played Roblox every day together after school and reportedly talked late into the night, The New York Times reported.

While Dallas, who was 12 years old when he met Nate, was completely unaware of the predator's intentions, his online “friend” was employing textbook grooming techniques to exploit the vulnerable teen and build rapport.

Once trust was established, Nate showed Dallas how to unblock a few parental controls on Roblox, and the pair eventually moved their communication over to Discord.

Discord is an online messaging site and VoIP social platform, meaning that people can chat via message, video calls, and audio calls.

While Discord states that it doesn’t allow users to sign up to the platform if they’re under 13 years old, it seems that Dallas was able to create an account and “communicate with adults without any parental oversight,” law firm Anapol Weiss said in a press release.

Cybernews has reached out to Discord and Roblox for comment.

After transitioning over to Discord, Dallas and Nate’s interactions turned increasingly sexual.

Dallas, who trusted Nate, was coerced into sending explicit images of himself to his predator.

Nate used a form of sextortion or online blackmail to ensure that his sick plan would be carried out.

The predator blackmailed Dallas, threatening to share their intimate messages if he didn’t send explicit images of himself.

Sextortion isn’t just for financial gain. As the FBI explains, sextortion starts when someone believes they’re talking with someone their own age and is coerced into sending explicit, illegal images of themselves to the perpetrator.

“After the criminals have one or more videos or pictures, they threaten to publish that content, or they threaten violence, to get the victim to produce more images,” the FBI said.

The child is then caught up in insufferable and overwhelming feelings of shame, guilt, fear, and confusion, making it difficult for the victim to ask for help.

Eventually, Dallas did confess the abuse to his mother, Becca Dallas. The two sat down at the popular American restaurant chain, Denny’s, and discussed what was weighing on the boy’s mind.

Dallas told his mother about the abuse in 2024, and four months later, the teenager died by suicide.

At the time of the abuse, Dallas began having violent outbursts characterized as “anger fits,” The New York Times reports.

The teen's parents didn’t understand where these outbursts were coming from and eventually couldn’t handle them.

In 2022, Dallas was admitted to a treatment center for an entire year, demonstrating just how far-reaching and visceral the effects of online abuse can be.

Roblox and Discord have a serious predator problem

Cybernews has previously reported on the multitude of lawsuits brought against Roblox and Discord, alleging the abuse of young people on their platforms.

One lawsuit brought against the platforms alleges that a 10-year-old was groomed by a 27-year-old predator who pretended to be her age.

The 27-year-old kidnapped the young girl and held her hostage for an extended period of time until she was discovered by law enforcement.

Another lawsuit unravelled the twisted side of Roblox after an 11-year-old girl was raped by a predator she met on the site.

The lawsuit alleges that Roblox is aware and even encourages highly sexualized experiences on the site, despite presenting itself as a child and teen-focused platform.

Roblox allows young people to play highly sexualized games relating to sexual predators Jeffrey Epstein and Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Specifically, a 2024 investigation by Hindenberg Research, a US investment research firm, found that Roblox hosted over 600 experiences referencing disgraced musician Sean “Diddy” Combs’ “freak offs.”

Furthermore, the State of Louisiana filed a lawsuit against Roblox for ignoring child safety on its platform.

Despite its “new and improved” AI tools explicitly used to combat predators, the same problems continue to arise.

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