Roblox sues a YouTuber for “terrorist threats”, but he suggests that he’s not the platform’s biggest problem

The Roblox Corporation filed a lawsuit against Roblox YouTuber, Ruben Sim in November—accusing Sim of leading a “cybermob” and other charges. But while Roblox was originally looking for USD 1.6 million (RM6.6 million) in damages, they decreased that amount to USD 150,000 (RM627,720) in a dually agreed-upon stipulated order and final judgment by the court.

What was Sim accused of?

Back in November, Roblox lawyers filed the lawsuit in a California court alleging that Sim “commits and encourages unlawful acts designed to injure Roblox and its users”. Lawyers said that Sim posted “terrorist threats” that temporarily shut down the Roblox Developers Conference in October. During the event, Sim reportedly posted a message on Twitter suggesting that police were “searching for notorious Islamic Extremist” at RDC 2021. He and others continued to post fake threats like these—including one that reportedly said “Don’t come to RDC tomorrow”—lawyers said.

And that’s not all that Sim was accused of. The YouTube creator allegedly harassed other players using racist and homophobic slurs, allegedly sexually harassed users, and even uploaded photos of Adolph Hitler to Roblox.

Sim also had a long history with the Roblox platform, from which he has been banned for several years. However, he continues to access the platform by “hacking” and using accounts created by other people. 

Sim’s response

However, on 15 January 2022, Sim uploaded a retort on YouTube regarding the court order. In the video, he says that he’s the “very first person to be sued by Roblox” and covered a few parts of the order—including the claim that he’s the leader of a “cybermob”.

“Are they talking about my viewers here? I think they are. I think you guys watching this are the “cybermob”. This sounds so dystopian,” Sim said in his video.

Sim also touched on how Roblox sued him for actions happening “outside the Roblox platform”. The order stated that Sim “tweeted a photoshopped picture of a former Roblox employee who was openly gay, depicting him nude, and then repeatedly harassing him on Twitter”, but the YouTuber disputed it.

“I’ve never done that. Back in 2015, Roblox hired a social media manager while he was running a porn blog which was completely public. It’s not just a porn blog, but a fetish porn blog showing furry porn… and even nudes of himself taken outside in the middle of the desert in Death Valley, California. This social media manager wasn’t just an anonymous Roblox employee. He was an E-Celeb, making regular appearances on their company’s livestreams…” said Sim.

He also added a glaring accusation—claiming that Roblox hasn’t been handling accused pedophiles on the platform well. Sim said that one of Roblox’s developers was accused of “sexting a 12-year-old girl while he was 24. He apparently is “still the lead developer of a game Roblox is hosting on their website right now”. The Discord server where “he meets these girls” are “still linked on the game’s page”.

“Why am I being sued for off-platform behaviour when I’ve made videos on this very channel criticising Roblox for doing next to nothing when child predators groom their users over Discord?” continued Sim in the video.

In his video, Sim hasn’t yet touched on the other accusations like sexual harassment and the photos of Adolph Hitler to Roblox. But he said that he will be posting more parts of himself covering the court order on his YouTube channel.

After the video was posted, Roblox decreased the settlement from USD 1.6 million to USD 150,000 in “a dually agreed-upon stipulated order and final judgment by the court”. Sim also agreed not to make false statements about Roblox, encourage violence against Roblox or its employees and offices, go near the Roblox office, or create videos that encourage or glamorize violating Roblox’s rules or gaining access to the platform after being banned. Additionally, he’ll need to remove any previous YouTube videos that violate these terms.

Sim hasn’t put out a statement on the lawsuit yet, but he tweeted that part two of his video series covering the matter is now in “post-production“. It is expected to be uploaded to his YouTube channel in the “next couple of months.” 

[ SOURCE, IMAGE SOURCE ]

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