Burrows raises alarm about online gaming platforms promoting school shootings

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(The Center Square) – Speaker of the Texas House Dustin Burrows on Monday sounded the alarm about online gaming platforms promoting school violence and issued a new interim charge for the state legislature to address. 

He did so after speaking with state Rep. Don McLaughlin, R-Uvalde, who raised concerns about a Roblox video game that simulates the Robb Elementary School shooting that resulted in 19 children and two teachers being killed. McLaughlin was the mayor of Uvalde at the time of the shooting. Burrows chaired a 2022 House committee investigation into failures surrounding the shooting and helped propose reforms that have since been implemented statewide. 

“Protecting Texas children is one of the most serious responsibilities of lawmakers, and we will treat it that way – especially in an increasingly digital world,” Burrows said. He also posted screenshots of the video game simulation on social media. The images appear to depict Lego style figurines with AR-15 type rifles walking through a hallway and into a classroom entitled, 'Active Shooter Studio’s Roblox game, ‘Robb.’”

The Roblox video game appears to simulate “the tragedy at Robb Elementary in graphic detail,” making it clear that “this content – and the failure to stop it – demands immediate action,” Burrows said. “Turning an unspeakable act of violence, whose scars remain across the Uvalde community, into entertainment is a profound moral failure. When directed at children, it goes beyond poor taste and crosses into dangerous territory. It reflects a platform that permits exploitation and shock value at the expense of basic human decency – risking further harm and the erosion of moral judgment at an impressionable age.”

One year ago, the Anti-Defamation League first sounded the alarm about Roblox active shooter studios that also created maps based on actual school shootings. 

“Active Shooter Studios (A.S.S.) has gained notoriety for creating Roblox maps that replicate real-life mass shootings, including the infamous tragedies” at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, Robb Elementary in Uvalde and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, as well as other mass shootings and terrorist attacks, ADL said. “A.S.S. is part of the larger True Crime Community (TCC) online subculture, whose adherents have a disturbing fascination with serial killers and mass murderers, often creating dark memes and fan fiction glorifying killers and their crimes.”

Roblox is one of the most popular online gaming platforms worldwide. The $2 billion company has 144 million daily users. According to Roblox data, “its user base is younger than indicated by self-reported data. Among daily users, 38% are between the ages of 13 and 17, 35% are under the age of 13 and 27% are over 18,” CNBC reported. Roblox says “it views its scale with young users as a ‘valuable strategic asset,’” CNBC added.

In light of this, “there is no excuse for performative safeguards or indifferent oversight,” Burrows said. “The State of Texas demands accountability – not a system that profits from violence and provocation while exposing young minds to hateful content. Lawmakers cannot stand by while a platform aimed at children enables and monetizes this kind of abuse.”

Last month, Burrows announced several dozen interim charges for the legislature to address when it convenes next year, The Center Square reported. Several relate to public school education, including school finance, discipline management, mental health services, accountability and transparency, academic outcomes, educator misconduct, among others.

The new interim charge adds to these directives by instructing the state House Affairs Committee to implement additional child safety measures, specifically for online gaming platforms “that have failed to address widespread harmful content and risks to minors.” 

State Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian, is chairing the bipartisan committee tasked with targeting “serious failures by gaming platforms like Roblox – where exploitative content and nominal safeguards are exposing Texas children to ongoing endangerment” and examining the prevalence of inappropriate virtual experiences on gaming platforms, Burrows said. They are also instructed to review violent and sexually explicit content and communication between minors and adult strangers through online gaming platforms. 

“Platforms that allow content glorifying real-world violence are putting children at risk. The Texas House will not look the other way while companies aimed at children permit – and profit from – this kind of environment,Burrows said. "Accountability is coming, and we will be ready to act.”