The Texas Speaker of the House has assigned a panel of lawmakers to investigate a popular gaming platform and recommend strict new laws next year. This comes after Roblox allowed players to simulate being the killers during mass shootings. Millions of kids generate their own games and simulation s on the platform Roblox. The state lawmaker representing Uvalde flagged the Speaker of the House’s office when one simulation allowed players to pretend to be the active shooter at Robb Elementary School. It’s a crime that continues to tear at the West Texas town of Uvalde. In a press release, Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows detailed how some were pretending to be the shooter who killed 19 students and 2 teachers on the gaming platform Roblox. In his release, Burrows wrote, “After Representative Don McLaughlin of Uvalde brought to my attention a Roblox first-person shooter game simulating the tragedy at Robb Elementary in graphic detail, it became clear this content—and the failure to stop it—demands immediate action. 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,” wrote Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows, R- Lubbock. “Any glorification of the tragedy at Robb Elementary School deeply concerns us.Behaviors that promote violent extremism and depictions of sensitive real-world events are against our policies, which we work tirelessly to enforce. The content referenced by the Texas Speaker of the House has been removed and any users who upload such content are immediately banned from our platform upon detection,” wrote a Roblox Spokesperson. Staff for Roblox says the company has a multi-layered safety system that includes advanced AI-powered detection, monitoring teams, 24/7 moderation, and robust user reporting tools. “We take immediate action when we detect violations of our standards and work closely with law enforcement to hold bad actors accountable. While no system can be perfect, we work around the clock to enhance our safety measures,” wrote a Roblox spokesperson. “It’s one of the most tragic events that has occurred in our state, and they’re commercializing it; they’re mocking it. That’s a problem,” said State Rep. Rafael Anchia, D – Dallas. He sees it as an example of tech and digital platforms wanting to generate money and shareholder value with little guardrails. Lawmakers, he tells NBC DFW, have to be that check against the pure desire to make money from users. Rep. Anchia sits on the State Affairs Committee looking into the situation and believes age verification is a low-hanging solution that may be coming. “So an age verification with some pretty stringent penalties that will keep these folks in line and require them to self-monitor, I think, are just the start out of the gate,” he said. So when lawmakers return to Austin in January, they will look at possible new laws requiring parental consent, content moderation, and making it possible to file lawsuits or criminal charges against the people running companies like Roblox. Roblox has been embroiled in legal hot water over alleged child safety issues. In the last month, Roblox has agreed to pay more than $30 million settlements with Alabama, West Virginia, and Nevada. Separately, seven state attorneys general—including Texas—have sued the company over child safety and consumer protection violations. More than 100 families have also sued the company over its alleged failure to prevent children from being groomed or assaulted by predators on Roblox. The social gaming platform has pledged to enforce stricter safeguards, including requiring age verification for all users. ...read more read less