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Roblox Schlep ban controversy
Internet controversy From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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On August 9, 2025, Schlep, a Roblox-focused YouTuber who was known for conducting sting operations against alleged sexual predators, was permanently banned from the platform due to his alleged violations of terms of service. Roblox also sent him a cease and desist letter, threatening to take legal action against him if he resumed his activities. The ban caused controversy inside the Roblox community. Schlep had reached out to US congressman Ted Cruz for help but instead US congressman Ro Khanna contacted him and created a petition with a goal of 1 million signatures that urged Roblox to "do more" to protect children.[1][2]
Shortly after, the attorney general of Louisiana, Liz Murrill, sued Roblox Corporation in relation to the incident.[3] On August 15, Schlep said that he is going to counter-sue Roblox and that he had hired lawyers to fight its accusations.[4]
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Background
Schlep (real name Michael) is a Texas based YouTuber with over 1 million subscribers, primarily known for Roblox related content. He gained attention for organizing sting operations against alleged sexual predators using Roblox to target minors, resulting in six arrests that were documented in videos on his channel, including his most-viewed upload, "Roblox Predator Gets Arrested!".[5][6][7] Schlep has stated that he began playing Roblox at the age of twelve[8] and was subjected to sexual grooming on the platform by a developer, further claiming that a report filed by his mother did not result in administrative action. He has attributed this experience, along with a subsequent suicide attempt, as motivating his later efforts.[9][10] His activities included coordination with local police and collaboration with groups such as "EDPWatch", founded by YouTuber JiDion, and "Predator Poachers", led by Alex Rosen.[11]
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Controversy
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Cease and desist letter
On August 9, 2025, Schlep made a post on Twitter that showed a photo of his account being terminated and a cease and desist letter that he received from Roblox Corporation.[1] The letter accused him of violating policies of Roblox, specifically its new "vigilante groups" rule, stating that he "actively interferes" with their protocols and should have reported inappropriate conduct to "official channels", threatening to take legal action against him if he continued his activities or attempted to access Roblox.[12][13] It also said that he violated user privacy guidelines by participating in "unauthorised and harmful activities" to users.[14] Roblox deleted all of Schlep's accounts on the platform and banned him from creating new ones.[11] Schlep said that David Baszucki also blocked him on Twitter.[15]
On the same day, Schlep uploaded an 8-minute video to his YouTube channel, titled "Roblox Is Threatening to Sue Me For Protecting Kids", in which he detailed his termination from the platform and criticized Roblox.[16] The video claimed that Schlep, in his youth, was groomed on Roblox by a "popular developer" who made him watch gore videos and sexually explicit content and manipulated him to do inappropriate actions. In the video, Schlep recalled his mother contacting Roblox about the predator, to which Roblox dismissed her concerns, taking no action against the predator. The predator continued to mistreat children until the eventual ban of his account, which happened a few years after his mother reported the incident.[17] He also said that he and his team were thanked by police for catching them and that the ban may help child predators to harm more children and get away with their crimes.[18] Schlep added that termination of his accounts was "pretty heartbreaking" for him and that it was the first time he was directly contacted by the platform. Schlep called the claims in the cease and desist letter "laughably hilarious". He added that he will not be accessing Roblox ever again unless allowed by the platform and that he will continue his operations against alleged predators on his website.[19]
The incident quickly gained traction, with the Roblox community showing significant backlash to Schlep's ban and accusing Roblox of not caring about child safety. Schlep reached out to Senator Ted Cruz by email and asked him to take action against Roblox; Representative Ro Khanna later contacted Schlep and posted a video of him announcing a petition on his website that demanded Roblox to make its child safety policies more effective.[15][20] A similar petition is hosted on Change.org; as of August 14, it received 55,000 signatures and increased to over 100,000 on August 17.[21][22]
#FreeSchlep campaign
Shortly after the event, hashtag "#freeschlep" became popular on Twitter for several days; various internet users praised Schlep and condemned Roblox's treatment of him.[11] Some popular content creators quit Roblox's content program as a protest. Popular YouTubers like MoistCr1TiKal, JiDion and KreekCraft criticized Roblox, some denouncing their actions as "backwards" and "hypocritical".[23] Benjamin Robert Simon (better known online as Ruben Sim), a YouTuber who was previously sued by Roblox voiced his support for Schlep.[24] Some Roblox developers said that they were going to change icons and thumbnails of their games to "FREE SCHLEP",[25] multiple players set their Roblox display name to "FREESCHLEP", and staged multiple in-game protests by chanting "Free Schlep" in chat.[26] Major media outlets reported on the controversy and scheduled to do multiple national interviews.[27]
After the backlash, Roblox Corporation made a statement on the situation, explaining their decision on banning vigilante groups. The statement reasoned that vigilante groups allegedly normalized inappropriate conduct on Roblox by impersonating minors and moving users off-site to participate in sexual conversations.[28][29] On August 15, Schlep announced that he plans to sue Roblox and the he had hired lawyers to fight Roblox's claims. He also said that the controversy caused Roblox Corporation's stock prices to deteriorate.[4][30] On the same day, Louisiana attorney general Liz Murrill filed a lawsuit against Roblox for allegedly not doing enough to stop child predators.[31][3] A day later, Roblox's stock price fell by 7% and Qatar banned Roblox citing child safety concerns.[32] An online streamer named Steak with 3 million followers staged a live protest at the Utah Capitol, holding signs that said "Free Schlep," for tens of thousands of online viewers.[4]
American television journalist Chris Hansen, known for the television show To Catch a Predator, said on August 15, 2025, that he was producing a documentary film about the state of child safety on the Roblox platform, and that he had interviewed law enforcement, abuse victims, and Schlep for the project.[33][34]
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References
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