Investigation into Roblox: the deadline has passed, and nothing public has happened

In mid-August, a subcommittee of the US Senate opened an investigation into child protection at Roblox. Two senators asked for documents, with a deadline of 31 August 2026. That date is now two weeks past.

Since then, nothing has happened in public. No announcement that Roblox delivered. No reprimand that Roblox did not deliver. No hearing. On 13 September we went through the press pages of both senators and the meeting calendar of the Judiciary Committee: the most recent entry about Roblox is from 13 August, and the calendar lists no session on the subject.

One important point, so that nobody draws the wrong conclusion: documents like these go to the committee confidentially. So the fact that nothing has become known does not mean that Roblox sent nothing. It only means that we do not know.

What the letter is about

Senators Josh Hawley and Dick Durbin sent a letter to Roblox CEO David Baszucki on 12 August 2026, published on 13 August. The letter is online as a PDF, and there is a press release as well.

Among other things, two demands are made: Roblox is to disclose how much money the company earns from which age groups. And Roblox is to say how many accounts were reported over the past two years for behaving inappropriately towards children.

A letter from the Senate is not a verdict and not a penalty. It is a request to produce figures.

The number, and how to read it

The letter gives the number 65,381. That is how many suspected cases of sexual exploitation of children Roblox reported to the US reporting centre NCMEC in 2025. The year before, the figure was 24,522.

So the number has far more than doubled. That is serious. But it says more than one thing at once.

A rising number of reports can mean that more is happening. It can also mean that detection has improved and that more is being reported. Both at the same time is possible. It is also known that in June 2026 Roblox promised another senator to improve its own reporting and to supply more detail with it. No public source says which share is down to what. So we write down what is documented: the two numbers, the years and the source.

What Roblox has announced since

Roblox held its developer conference from 10 to 12 September. Several things were announced there. That is explicitly not an answer to the investigation, it ran in parallel.

These three are the ones children are most likely to notice:

• Ready-made chat building blocks. Children who are not allowed to chat freely should in future be able to communicate using vetted standard phrases.
• Age proof by selfie instead of ID document. Anyone under 18 who wants to publish something can use the facial age estimation. This applies immediately.
• Games are to start directly in the browser by the end of 2026, without the Roblox app installed. Roblox did not say whether parental settings take effect there in the same way. That is the point we will keep watching.

Roblox adds a success figure of its own: the age checks introduced in April are said to have reduced harmful content that could reach the youngest users by 99.5 percent. That is a statement by the company about itself, no measurement method was published, and nobody outside the company has checked it. So we report it as what it is.

On the investigation itself, Roblox has said nothing new since mid-August. What stands is the statement made at the time by its head of safety, that the platform is built on safety and that the company looks forward to laying out the facts.

Put in perspective for parents

Honestly: for everyday life in Germany, nothing follows from this investigation today. A proceeding in Washington changes no setting and no rule in Germany.

What actually helps is something else that appeared in the same period. klicksafe, the EU initiative for online safety, published its own Roblox section on 26 August, in German and free of charge: risks, safety settings, tips on supporting your child, plus a flyer for teenagers. If you want to set aside an hour, spend it on that and not on news from the Senate.

Two things that many parents do not know and that are more concrete than any hearing:

In Germany, the Roblox app is rated 16 and up. The USK, Germany’s games rating body, raised the rating from 12 to 16 at the turn of the year 2024/2025.

And: purchases a child makes without permission are not set in stone. In February, the Verbraucherzentrale Niedersachsen, the consumer advice centre of the German state of Lower Saxony, supported a case in which a 14-year-old had spent around 2,630 euros on Robux over several months. The money was refunded. Under German law, minors have only limited capacity to enter into contracts, and that is worth more than any account setting.

What is happening legally in Europe right now is covered in EU designates Roblox a very large platform. The settings that really make a difference are in Is Roblox safe for kids?.

As of 13 September 2026. It remains open whether Roblox delivered the documents, what they say, and whether the committee will publish anything from them. No hearing date has been set. If you read somewhere that a hearing is certain or will take place at a particular time: there is no source for that so far. As soon as something verifiable changes, we will write it here.