SAN MATEO, California, August 5, 2025 -- A California girl who was groomed, manipulated, and abducted by a predator she met on the online gaming platform, Roblox, has filed a lawsuit against the company, seeking to hold it accountable for creating and maintaining an online environment where child predators thrive unchecked. The suit, filed by national litigation firm Anapol Weiss, also names Discord Inc., the chat platform where the predator continued grooming the child. This is the seventh such lawsuit brought by Anapol Weiss against Roblox, underscoring a pattern of systemic negligence and failure to protect child users.
The complaint in this case, Doe v. Roblox Corporation and Discord Inc., alleges that Roblox allowed a 27-year-old predator, Matthew Macatuno Naval, to pose as a peer and contact the child through its platform, despite Roblox’s public promises of child safety. Naval later moved the conversation to Discord, where the child, after being groomed and manipulated, shared her home address. On April 13, 2025, Naval abducted the girl from her home in Taft, California. She was eventually found hundreds of miles away in his vehicle in Elk Grove, after a frantic, multi-agency search.
The lawsuit lays bare the reckless design of both platforms: Roblox and Discord allow adult strangers to communicate directly with children; fail to verify age or identity; and provide features that predators use to isolate and manipulate minors. Despite aggressively marketing themselves as family-friendly and safe for kids, Roblox and Discord are both accused of turning a blind eye to rampant abuse in the name of user growth and profits.
“This case is horrifying, but it’s the natural consequence of how these platforms choose to operate,” said Alexandra Walsh, partner at Anapol Weiss. “Roblox and Discord know predators are exploiting children on their platforms. They’ve known for years, and for years refused to implement simple and essential protections. This wasn’t a loophole. It was the system working exactly as they designed it.”
The complaint includes claims of negligence, negligent design, failure to warn, and design defect, alleging that both companies knew their platforms were being exploited by adult predators, but chose not to act.
“This child was found because her family and law enforcement acted quickly,” said Kristen Gibbons Feden, shareholder at Anapol Weiss and a national leader in child abuse litigation. “But no child should ever be placed in harm’s way to begin with. Roblox and Discord didn’t just fail to protect her; they built and sustained the very social ecosystem that allowed this predator to thrive. Roblox gave him direct access to a child. Discord gave him the tools to isolate and manipulate her. Both companies had countless chances to intervene, and they chose not to.”
Anapol Weiss continues to represent families across the country whose children have been groomed, abused, or abducted through online platforms, including Roblox, Discord, and others that refuse to implement effective child safety protocols.
About Anapol Weiss: Anapol Weiss, a majority-women-owned law firm based in Philadelphia, has recovered hundreds of millions for survivors of abuse, fraud, and corporate misconduct. To learn more, visit www.anapolweiss.com.
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