Los Angeles County has sued Roblox for "unfair and deceptive business practices," claiming the platform's moderation and age-verification systems are inadequate. "Roblox portrays its platform as a safe and appropriate place for children to play," the complaint states. "In reality, and as Roblox well knows, the design of its platform makes children easy prey for pedophiles." 

Representatives accused Roblox of failing to implement adequate platform safety features to prevent child endangerment. "Specifically, Roblox has not effectively moderated game content or enforced age-appropriate restrictions and warnings established by the creators, allowing the predatory and inappropriate language and interactions between users to persist," the County stated. It also said the platform failed to disclose any danger to children, including sexual content and the risk of predators. 

Roblox rejected the allegations, saying the platform was built around safety. "We have advanced safeguards that monitor our platform for harmful content and communications, and users cannot send or receive images via chat, avoiding one of the most prevalent opportunities for misuse seen elsewhere online," the company told the AFP. 

The LA county complaint is the latest in a string of lawsuits from US regions including Florida, Texas and Kentucky. The Attorney General in Louisiana also accused the company of having a "lack of safety protocols" that endanger the safety of children in favor of "growth, revenue and profits." That state's lawsuit cited a specific example of a subject arrested last year that used voice-altering tech to mimic a younger feminine voice to lure and sexually exploit young players.

Roblox has said that it has about 144 million daily active users around the world, with over 40 percent of them under the age of 13. However, it has faced repeated accusations that it doesn't do enough to protect young players. In 2024, Roblox banned players under 13 from accessing some types of in-game content and restricted their ability to message with other players outside of specific games. Last year, the company also began asking tens of millions of children to verify their age with a selfie. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/la-county-lawsuit-accuses-roblox-of-exposing-children-to-grooming-and-exploitation-124523028.html?src=rss

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Meta is shutting down the standalone Messenger website, according to a company help page. The website will disappear in April, though web users will still be able to send and receive messages within Facebook.

"After messenger.com goes away, you will be automatically redirected to use facebook.com/messages for messaging on a computer," the help page reads. "You can continue your conversations there or on the Messenger mobile app."

Users will be able to restore their chat history after switching to the app by entering a PIN number. This is the same PIN that was used to initially create a backup on Messenger. It can be reset for those who simply don't have the bandwidth to remember yet another six-digit code.

Many users have expressed discontent over the decision to shut down the standalone website, according to a report by TechCrunch. This is particularly true for those who have deactivated their Facebook accounts but continued to use Messenger.

This comes just a few months after Meta shut down Messenger's standalone desktop apps. At that time, Meta directed existing users to Facebook to continue using the service and not the dedicated Messenger website. In other words, the writing has likely been on the wall since October.

Messenger has had a long and storied history. The platform first launched as Facebook Chat all the way back in 2008. Facebook Messenger became a standalone app in 2011. The company has long-tried to make Messenger a thing outside of Facebook. It removed messaging capabilities from the main Facebook app in 2014 and began directing users to the Messenger app. Meta began reintegrating Messenger back into the Facebook app in 2023 and now here we are.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/meta-is-shuttering-messengers-standalone-website-which-is-a-thing-that-exists-191808134.html?src=rss

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© Unsplash / Mariia Shalabaieva

YouTube's "Ask" button is making its way to the living room. The Gemini-powered feature is now rolling out as an experiment on smart TVs, gaming consoles and streaming devices. 9to5Google first spotted a Google support page announcing the change.

Like on mobile devices and desktop, the feature is essentially a Gemini chatbot trained on each video's content. Selecting that "Ask" button will bring up a series of canned prompts related to the content. Alternatively, you can use your microphone to ask questions about it in your own words.

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Google says your TV remote's microphone button (if it has one) will also activate the “Ask” feature. The company listed sample questions in its announcement, such as "what ingredients are they using for this recipe?" and "what's the story behind this song's lyrics?"

The conversational AI tool is only launching for "a small group of users" at first. Google promises that it will "keep everyone up to speed on any future expansions."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/youtube-is-bringing-the-gemini-powered-ask-button-to-tvs-173900295.html?src=rss

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