Criticism of Roblox/Legal

Got Milk lawsuit

In 2007, Roblox released a visor which read the slogan, "Got Milk?". It has been said that Hood got involved for copyright, in which the visor was taken off sale. It was put up for limited sales in 2010 and only has 4312 buyers.

Devo lawsuit

On September 11, 2009, Roblox released a Devo hat for 50 tickets. A few days later, it was said that Roblox was informed that they cannot sell it due to copyright infringement of the band called Devo because the hat looked too much like Devo's Energy dome, and lots of other companies (like McDonalds) got sued for it. The hat was put off sale and was renamed to "Impossible to Obtain Red Wedding Cake Hat". 

Cinemark lawsuit

On June 13, 2016, Roblox was sued by Cinemark (a chain of movie theaters) for trademark violation Cinemark v Roblox.

Inappropriate Content on news

In 2017, Roblox was criticized by mainstream media because some children had been exposed to "sickening" messages from online daters, which the mainstream media called "intimacy". The first case was a mother of a 6-year-old who found "threatening" messages, most relating to online dating. Most of these cases are the result of trolling, and it is unknown what Roblox does to prevent this directly.

Political Ban in the UAE

On May 17, 2018, the UAE's attorney general ordered Roblox to be banned entirely in the United Arab Emirates, claiming that Roblox was damaging children's health, then the FBI intervened to investigate the content of other websites and apps. Other countrywide bans can occur by petitions and activists.

On March 11, 2021, the ban was lifted in that country.

Nintendo Copyright Removals

On April 18, 2018, the popular Roblox game "Pokémon Brick Bronze" was Content Deleted for an undisclosed reason. Many people on YouTube, Twitter, Discord, and the Pokémon Brick Bronze group were complaining about the game being deleted and came to the conclusion Nintendo copyright striked the game. Shortly after lando64000 made a short tweet on Twitter explaining that the game was taken down by Nintendo for copyright. People soon started to complain about the Robux they lost due to the game being deleted. Lando did give a refund for Robux that was spent on the game from the last 30 days. On YouTube, a new hoax was being spread saying "Pokémon Brick Bronze is back!" Shortly after this incident happened, Roblox announced the controversial copyright audio removal.

On August 6, 2018, multiple Pokémon games were taken down including Pokémon Fighters X and Project: Pokémon. Furthermore, on August 14, 2018, several Mario games, such as Paper Mario RP, Super Mario Showcase, and Italian Plumber Simulator, were taken down also. It is certain that more games using Nintendo properties will be removed in the future, as Nintendo has an infamous history of shutting down Nintendo-related fan projects in the past.

Tommy Tallarico Lawsuit

In June 2019, Tommy Tallarico, whose company created sounds for the 2000 game Messiah, discovered that Roblox had been using his sound as the Roblox Death Sound for years. However, it was not until early January 2020, when Roblox announced that they would be changing all avatar sounds (including the death sound), that he decided to sue Roblox for a DMCA violation.^{⁠[citation needed]} Tommy tweeted that he offered for Roblox to purchase the rights to the sound but was declined because Roblox, claiming to have mistakenly taken the sound from an illegal music website, did not believe they needed to. He also stated that he did not want the sound removed from Roblox; rather, he would have it stay if Roblox paid him for its use. Fans criticized Roblox for refusing to purchase the sound from Tommy.

Picture from Tommy Tallarico on Twitter proving his ownership of the sound effect.

On January 11, 2020, Roblox made an official statement regarding the oof sound, stating that Tommy Tallarico's claims were false and that he did not own the rights to the sound. This prompted him to post a picture of an official document proving his ownership of the sound. In its statement, Roblox also denied his claim that it took the sound from an illegal music website. Rather, its founders, Erik Cassel and David Baszucki, took it from a CD-ROM of licenced, copyright-free sounds.

In November 2020, it was announced that Tommy and Roblox reached an agreement. Roblox will replace the sound, but developers will be able to purchase it for use within Roblox through the Tommy Tallarico Sound Design Kits. Though the change was slated for the end of the month, it is currently postponed up to the release of the Developer Marketplace.

On July 26, 2022, the Roblox Twitter account announced that the sound would be updated later that day. Around an hour after the post, the sound was updated to an "deh" sound. The "oof" sound was reinstated as of 2025.

Trump Hacking Incident

Thousands of Roblox accounts were compromised throughout June and July 2020 and were used to promote Donald Trump's reelection campaign and spread pro-Trump messages. Some of the pro-Trump messages were "Ask your parents to vote for Trump this year!" and "MAGA2020!". Their avatars were changed to wear The Encierro Cap and a free classic T-shirt which has a bald eagle in front of an American flag and also most hacked avatars had their skin colors changed to blue for the head, white for the torso and arms, and red for the legs. Roblox was criticized for not securing the accounts and not initially taking any action on the hacked users. The incident was covered by multiple news organizations such as BBC and CTV news.

Doe v. Roblox Corporation

In May 2021, the plaintiff, a minor under the pseudonym of Jane Doe, filed an ongoing class-action lawsuit against Roblox because it did not refund Robux purchases of Content deleted shirts and pants. The plaintiff alleged that Roblox performed a fraudulent "content moderation scheme" in which it would delete items after they sold well to profit off of the 30% marketplace fee. (Items that did not apparently violate any policies or infringe on any trademarks could also be deleted.) Additionally, by not preventing reuploads of deleted content, Roblox would be able to repeat the scheme. The lawsuit has sparked some issues in the Roblox community.

NMPA lawsuit

On June 9th, 2021, the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) sued Roblox on behalf of several major music publishers accusing Roblox of the unauthorized use and exploitation of copyrighted music. The suit alleges that Roblox actively encouraged users to upload copyrighted and unlicensed material onto the platform which was "teaching children that pirating music is perfectly acceptable." Roblox soon afterwards responded to the suit stating that the NMPA had a misunderstanding of how the platform operated along with mentioning it having partnered with music labels for events such as the Lil Nas X concert along with the licensing deal with APM Music in 2018. In September 2021, the NMPA and Roblox settled the copyright suit and many users suspect that the lawsuit played a role in the changes to asset privacy for audio that was announced in March 2022.

Mattel Copyright Removals

Around July 2021, several experiences related to Mattel properties, notably Thomas & Friends was taken down for copyright. A similar takedown occurred in 2023 with experiences based on the card game, Uno, as well as other Mattel-owned IPs (including Roblox game "Sodor Online" (now "Locos Online" by Speedyskip).

False advertising complaint

On April 19, 2022, TINA.org filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging that Roblox "completely shirked its responsibility" in following the advertising laws. According to Roblox's community guidelines, users who place advertisements in their games must "remain responsible for all advertising content".

Kim Kardashian lawsuit

In April 2022, Kim Kardashian threatened to sue Roblox after news about a leaked Kim Kardashian video being seen by her child on the platform.