US court bans Youtuber accused of harassing ‘Roblox’ staff and terrorist threats

The Roblox Corporation filed a lawsuit against Youtuber Benjamin Simon which concluded with the US District Court permanently banning the defendant from Roblox.

The judgement was agreed upon by both parties and requires Simon to pay £111,266 ($150,000) to Roblox. The YouTuber, better known as Ruben Sim, uploads Roblox gameplay and criticism but was hit with a lawsuit after he allegedly posted a threat in October 2021.

The tweet allegedly targeted the Roblox Developers Conference, which said “San Francisco Police are currently searching for notorious Islamic Extremist [name redacted]. If you see this individual at RDC please call 911 immediately” (as reported by arsTechnica).

This tweet was included with a now-deleted video titled “Someone Blow Up Roblox Now”. A following tweet from Simon said “Don’t come to RDC tomorrow.” As a result, the Roblox Developer Conference was put on a temporary lockdown while police and private security secured the event location.

Details in the January 14 judgement also say that Simon evaded attempts to ban his IP address from Roblox and that he “repeatedly posts libellous statements about Roblox’s founder and CEO, attributing false statements and conduct to the CEO that Defendant Simon knows to be false and which he makes with intent to cause injury to the reputation of the CEO and of Roblox.”

While the judgment has permanently banned Simon from Roblox, the fact that it is agreed upon by both parties means that the conclusion does not create a legal precedent for other users who may evade IP bans or violate a game’s terms of service.

In other news, Apex Legends next playable character will be Mad Maggie. First introduced in Season 8 as a nemesis to Fuse, the new Legend was revealed as the next playable character in an animated short, and will join the games when Season 12 begins.