Speaker of the Texas House Dustin Burrows issued a supplemental interim charge on April 20, 2026, directing the House Committee on State Affairs to investigate child safety and accountability on online gaming platforms.
The announcement specifically names the platform Roblox following a report from Representative Don McLaughlin (R-Uvalde) of a virtual simulation of the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. The committee is tasked with evaluating content moderation practices and identifying enforcement gaps in existing protections for minors.
According to the press release from Speaker Burrows’ office, the investigation will focus on the prevalence of inappropriate virtual experiences, including violent and sexually explicit content and communication between minors and adult strangers.
The House Committee on State Affairs is instructed to recommend proposals for the 90th Legislative Session that strengthen platform accountability and are “unconstrained by federal preemption or immunity defenses”. This move follows a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in November alleging the platform exposed children to exploitation.
The supplemental charge was prompted by Representative McLaughlin’s identification of a first-person shooter game on Roblox that depicted the Uvalde tragedy in graphic detail. Speaker Burrows, who chaired the 2022 investigation into the shooting, described the simulation as a “profound moral failure” and a “systemic failure in oversight”.
Per data provided by the Speaker’s office, approximately 40 percent of Roblox’s 144 million daily users are under the age of 13.
While Speaker Burrows characterized current safety measures as “performative safeguards,” Roblox recently announced new account types on April 13, 2026, intended to align content access and communication settings with user age. These updates, the company says, are scheduled for June and include “Roblox Kids” for users ages 5 to 8 and “Roblox Select” for ages 9 to 15, which will restrict communication and content by default.
Additionally, the platform reached a $10 million settlement with the state of Nevada in mid-April 2026, committing to implement age-verification and monitoring upgrades by mid-2026 to resolve allegations of inadequate protection from exploitation.
“The State of Texas demands accountability—not a system that profits from violence and provocation while exposing young minds to hateful content,” Speaker Burrows stated. He noted that the committee’s findings will be used to ensure the House is prepared to address the issue during the upcoming 90th Legislative Session.