The mother of a 15-year-old teen who died by suicide is now suing Discord and Roblox over his death. She says her son was groomed online and forced to send explicit images on the online platforms.
His mother, Rebecca Dallas, filed the lawsuit in San Francisco County Superior Court on Friday.
She accused Discord and Roblox for operating “recklessly and deceptively”, which led to the sexual exploitation and suicide of her son, Ethan Dallas, who was 12 at the time.
The lawsuit said that Ethan was a smart teen who enjoyed “gaming, interacting with online friends, and streaming”.
He began playing Roblox at the age of 9 with his parents’ approval.
When he was 12, however, he became the target of a “sexual predator” who pretended to be a child on Roblox, and added Ethan as a friend.
While their conversations started out innocent, they eventually became sexual in nature.
After a while of chatting, the man urged Ethan to turn off parental controls and to move their chat off Roblox, to Discord.
Once they moved the conversation to Discord, the man began to demand “explicit photographs and videos” from Ethan. He also threatened the teen that he would share or post the images online.
According to the complaint, Ethan did what he said out of fear.
The ordeal left lasting scars on Ethan, and in April 2024, at just 15 years old, he took his own life.
The lawsuit accuses Discord and Roblox of fraudulent concealment, wrongful death, strict liability, and negligent misrepresentation. It argues that the platforms failed to take proper steps to screen users before granting them access to the apps.
Roblox and Discord Not Safe For Kids
Ethan’s mother believed the platforms were safe for him to use while gaming with friends, particularly because of their parental control features.
As of 2025, Roblox has 111 million daily users.
In addition to gaming, the platform enables players to chat with each other. Creating an account is free, and there are no age requirements or verification measures in place.
Discord, launched in 2015, is a communication app widely used by gamers for text, voice, and video chats. Like Roblox, it does not verify the age or identity of its users.
The lawsuit claims that Roblox allowed Ethan to disable parental controls, while Discord allowed him to create a free account without requiring parental approval.
After his death, Ethan’s parents learned that the man who groomed him online had been arrested by law enforcement in Florida.
