An online safety activist appeared on “The Shawn Ryan Show” Monday to reveal how swiftly sexual predators contact children inside one of the world’s most widely used gaming platforms.
The activist, known online as Schlep, joined host Shawn Ryan for a live demonstration showing how rapidly predators can identify and message child users on Roblox, a gaming and game-creation platform.
Roblox reports at least 144 million users on its official website, spanning both players and game creators across the globe.
Schlep’s social media biography states he has contributed to six arrests and two convictions tied to online child exploitation occurring within Roblox.
During the broadcast, Schlep and Ryan navigated through a section of Roblox that both men compared to the dating application Tinder.
Almost immediately after a decoy account connected with another user identified as “aviationlover403,” that user sent the decoy a direct message reading, “U frky?”
“Oh, you freaky, do you see that?” Schlep said to Ryan upon seeing the message arrive.
Ryan responded, “Are you f**king serious, dude? Are you f**king serious?”
Schlep then directed the decoy to respond affirmatively to see what the user would request next.
A second interaction followed with a user identified as “Aimbot_errer3,” who sent an identical message almost instantly after connecting with the decoy account.
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In another clip shared to Ryan’s X account, a separate user asked the decoy whether they had a TikTok account within seconds of connecting.
Ryan exclaimed, “Holy sh*t! Are you f**king kidding me, dude?” as the messages appeared in real time.
Schlep opened the interview by recounting his own personal history with online exploitation, stating he was targeted while playing Roblox at 12 years old and later attempted suicide at age 15.
Schlep told Ryan that his abuser discussed a relationship the man had with a 15-year-old girl and forced Schlep to activate screenshare to prove he was watching footage of the 2019 mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand.
During a separate portion of the interview, Schlep walked Ryan through a user-created in-game re-enactment of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
“Holy sh*t, this is Sandy Hook Elementary School,” Ryan said while watching the decoy user navigate the game, then adding, “You said nine-year-olds [can play this game]? But I thought we just signed something saying we’re 13.”
Roblox issued a statement through its newsroom account on X addressing the Sandy Hook re-enactment: “This experience was uploaded on February 5 and removed on February 6 within five minutes of the initial report of inappropriate content.”
The company added, “Our data shows that the few users who accessed the experience did not find it through organic discovery. We reported all parties involved in the creation and coordination of this experience to law enforcement.”
Roblox CEO and founder David Baszucki also posted directly to X in response to clips circulating from the interview.
“We have a strict zero-tolerance policy for re-enacting any real-world tragic event on Roblox. This includes acts of terror and school shootings,” Baszucki wrote. “Such experiences directly violate our community standards and we strive to block them before they are even published.”
Baszucki acknowledged the platform’s limitations, writing, “a handful of bad actors do try to create these experiences to share with their friends and on social media. Although we are not perfect, we work hard to moderate and remove them as quickly as possible.”
Roblox currently faces active lawsuits from the states of Texas and Louisiana, both alleging the company is failing to adequately shield children from exploitation on its platform.
Anti-predator activists like Schlep have gained significant public followings in recent years, with some starring in television programming including Investigation Discovery’s “Undercover Underage.”
