On Aug. 9, 2025, popular Roblox YouTuber Schlep posted a video titled “Roblox is Threatening to Sue Me For Protecting Kids.” Since then, Roblox’s stock has dropped by $12 billion, countries like Qatar, Turkey, and Guatemala have banned the platform, and a petition calling for the removal of its CEO has nearly 300,000 signatures. So, how did such outrage against Roblox start with banning one user?
YouTuber Schlep has 2.04 million subscribers, but not for your average Roblox gameplay. He and two other creators, Ruben Sim and JiDion, have worked with law enforcement to get 6 online predators arrested. He poses as a naive kid who stumbles upon the Roblox condo community, a group that engages in explicit behavior through the platform, and begins messaging with a predator. Once the predator sets up an in-person meeting, he sends the messages to the police as evidence, leading to an arrest. His decoys reflect the lives of many children, including himself, who have fallen victim to online grooming. On both Schlep and his main channel, Maliboomer, he criticizes Roblox’s moderation system for letting games like these fly under the radar and for allowing predator accounts to remain active even after their arrests. However, he’s not doing it out of hatred for the site. He states that he’s been playing the game since he was young and loves it and is so critical because he hopes that it can be a safer place for children across the globe.
CEO David Baszucki blocked Schlep on X (formerly Twitter) for exposing that a predator’s account was still active after his arrest. However, Roblox never contacted him directly until Aug. 9, when they terminated all accounts owned by Schlep and sent him a Cease and Desist letter. The letter claims he was “engaging in simulated child endangerment conversations, sharing or soliciting personally identifiable information, and directing users to move conversations off platform,” along with “failing to immediately report suspicious activity to Roblox through proper channels.” On the same day, Schlep released a video, which currently has 5 million views, explaining the situation. In the video, he denies committing entrapment (talking sexually to an adult) and explains that it’s the predators who move chats offline, the information he’s sharing goes to the police to get them arrested, and that he does report suspicious behavior to Roblox, they just don’t respond. He also states that he will never again use Roblox unless allowed and will continue operations on his website.
Outrage over Roblox’s decision exploded online. “#freeschlep” trended on X for many days, Roblox users changed their display names to “FREESCHLEP,” and in-game protests were held. Many popular Roblox content creators, such as KreekCraft and ThinkNoodles, left the site’s “Video Stars Program,” a program that gives creators exclusive badges, items, promotion from official Roblox accounts, and early access to certain features. Most recently, at the Roblox Developers Conference on Sept. 5 and 6, the crowd went silent as David Baszucki walked on stage. The controversy even reached national and international governments. Louisiana and Kentucky Attorney Generals Liz Murrill and Russell Coleman have filed lawsuits against Roblox for their lack of child security, and countries like the ones mentioned above have gone so far as to ban the site entirely.
On Aug. 15, Roblox posted a video titled “Update on Our Safety Initiatives.” In it, they claim that vigilantes (namely, Schlep) started as a positive force that they “paid really careful attention” to, until they violated their policies by “impersonating” minors, talking inappropriately to other players off-platform, and reporting predatory behavior to law enforcement before Roblox. They also defend popular developers that allow Not-Suitable-For-Work (NSFW) content on their games because they aren’t directly engaging in it. Many who watched the video noticed that the video seemed AI-generated, and they were right. At timestamps 40:15 and 42:42, the words on David Baszucki’s mug distort, and Senior Director of Product Policy Eliza Jacob’s fingers disappear from her hand. On the same day, Schlep announced that he planned to countersue Roblox.
Then, one week later, Schlep posted a direct response to Roblox’s video titled “Roblox, Take a Seat (ft: Chris Hansen).” He refutes their defense of developers by showing that even after his mom emailed Roblox about Schlep’s grooming, Roblox continued to pay the developer who did it until a female employee reported him for sexual abuse. He then emphasizes that he does not steal any children’s identity and plays a made-up, innocent kid who is asked to move the conversation off-platform by the predator, adding that law enforcement and the FBI use these very same tactics. He also shows that Roblox has previously stated that in situations of child endangerment, the police should be notified before them. After debunking these allegations, Schlep plays a clip of his phone call with Chris Hansen, an American television journalist known for his Dateline segment “To Catch a Predator.” Hansen plans to work with Schlep in creating a documentary exposing Roblox’s poor handling of child safety measures. Although David Baszucki has since claimed that he “would love” to work with Schlep to improve Roblox’s security, Chris Hansen reports that Roblox has refused an on-screen interview with him due to his conversation with Schlep.
On Sept. 1, one last player joined the fight against Roblox’s corrupted values. Law by Mike, a popular YouTuber known for making short-form content about people’s everyday rights, posted a video titled “We’re Suing Roblox.” He announces that he’s joining Schlep’s lawsuit against Roblox because of its three main flaws: children being able to lie about their age, predators using in-game currency to exploit minors, and the amount of moderators being inadequate compared to their daily user count, meaning inappropriate conversations and games like “Run from Diddy Simulator” and “Shower Simulator” more easily sneak past their systems. Roblox has tried to improve its moderation by using AI instead of hiring more moderators, but people have abused this to get innocent users permanently banned.
Ultimately, this situation has exposed Roblox as potentially prioritizing the growth of its game over child safety. Although it advertises itself as a safe platform, the experiences of Schlep and other players show otherwise.
To follow Schlep, visit Schlep.tv or @RealSchlep on YouTube.
