On August 15, Schlep announced his intentions to countersue Roblox and that he had hired lawyers to fight its accusations.[3] Roblox made a statement, justifying the ban. It claimed that vigilante groups moved users off-site to participate in sexual conversations and that they normalized such behavior on the platform.[4] The controversy has led attorney general Liz Murrill of Louisiana to file a lawsuit against Roblox over child safety concerns.[5]
Schlep, real name Andrew[6] (born 2002 or 2003),[7][3] is a Texas-based YouTuber primarily known for Roblox-related content. He gained attention for organizing sting operations against sexual predators using Roblox to target minors, resulting in six arrests that were documented in videos on his channel.[8][9][10] Schlep stated that he began playing Roblox at the age of twelve,[11] where he was subjected to sexual grooming on the platform by a developer, further claiming that a report filed by his mother did not result in administrative action. He has attributed this experience, along with a subsequent suicide attempt, as motivation for his later efforts.[12]
Before his hobby of catching predators, Schlep's old videos criticized Roblox and highlighted inappropriate games on the platform.[13] After regularly getting complaints from his fans about sexual predators on Roblox, Schlep began investigating the platform, leading him to working with YouTuber JiDion.[14] Schlep identified himself as a "predator hunter". With his team, he created decoy accounts on Roblox that claimed to be minors to lure sexual predators, who engaged in explicit messaging with the decoys before agreeing to meet in person.[15][16] The team let predators send unprompted incriminating messages to the decoys before showing it to police as evidence. Of the six arrests, one did not result in charges.[13] In one sting operation, a 21-year-old man was arrested after arranging an in-person meeting with a decoy he met on Roblox and communicated with for 2 months.[9] He also openly criticized the platform on Twitter for their failure to ban dangerous users from the platform.[17]
Schlep's activities included coordination with local police and collaboration with groups such as "EDP Watch", founded by JiDion, and "Predator Poachers", led by Alex Rosen.[18] Schlep claimed to have worked with Arkansas Police and NCMEC, although the police have never made any announcements about his operations.[6] In an interview with Rolling Stone, Schlep said that he always wanted to collaborate with Roblox to solve the problem of child safety, but because of the platform's faulty moderation and report system, he stopped trusting them and decided to take matters into his own hands.[13]
Controversy
Cease and desist letter
On August 9, 2025, Schlep made a post on Twitter that included a photo of a cease and desist notice that he received from Roblox.[1] The company said that he violated Roblox policies, specifically its new "vigilante groups" rule, and that he "actively interferes" with their protocols and should have reported inappropriate conduct to "official channels". They threatened to take legal action against him if he continued his activities or attempted to access Roblox.[19][20] The letter also said that he violated user privacy guidelines by participating in "unauthorized and harmful activities" to users.[21] Roblox terminated all of Schlep's accounts from the platform and prohibited him from creating new ones.[18] Schlep also said that Roblox CEO David Baszucki blocked him on X.[22]
On the same day, Schlep uploaded an 8-minute video to his YouTube channel, titled "Roblox Is Threatening to Sue Me For Protecting Kids", in which he detailed his termination from the platform and criticized Roblox.[23] Schlep said that he was groomed in his youth on Roblox by a "popular developer", who made him watch gore videos and sexually explicit content and manipulated him to do inappropriate actions.[24] He also said that he and his team were thanked by police for catching predators on Roblox.[25] Schlep added that he was disappointed with the termination of his accounts, and that it was the first time he was directly contacted by the platform. Schlep called the claims in the cease-and-desist letter "laughably hilarious." He added that he will not be accessing Roblox ever again unless allowed by the platform, and that he will continue his operations against predators on his website.[26]
Reactions
Chris Hansen, known for the television show To Catch a Predator, was featured in a YouTube video from Schlep on August 22, where they discussed the future documentary and child safety on Roblox.
The incident quickly gained traction, with the Roblox community voicing significant backlash to Schlep's ban and accusing Roblox of not caring about child safety. Shortly after the event, the hashtag "#freeschlep" became popular on Twitter for several days, with users praising his actions.[18] Some popular content creators quit Roblox's content program as a protest. Popular YouTubers like Cr1TiKaL, JiDion, and KreekCraft denounced Roblox's actions as "backwards" and "hypocritical".[28]Ruben Sim, a YouTuber who was previously sued by Roblox, also showed his support.[29] Some Roblox third-party developers intended to change icons and thumbnails of their games to read "FREE SCHLEP".[30] Multiple players set their Roblox display name to "FREESCHLEP" and staged in-game protests, chanting "Free Schlep" in the chat.[31] An online streamer known as Steak, with 3 million followers, staged a live protest at the Utah Capitol, holding signs that read "Free Schlep" for tens of thousands of online viewers.[3][32]
A screengrab of a YouTube video showcasing a "Schlep raid" on Roblox; players protest against Schlep's ban and demand his freedom (offscreen), and a statue of Schlep's Roblox avatar and posters with the hashtag "#FreeSchlep" is shown onscreen.
Major media outlets reported on the controversy and scheduled national interviews.[33] American television journalist Chris Hansen, known for the television show To Catch a Predator, announced the production of a documentary film about child safety on Roblox, and that he had interviewed law enforcement, abuse victims, and Schlep for the project.[34][35] Hansen was featured in a YouTube video from Schlep on August 22, where they discussed the future documentary and child safety on Roblox.[27] Schlep reached out to Senator Ted Cruz by email and asked him to take action against Roblox. Representative Ro Khanna contacted Schlep and announced a petition on his website that demanded Roblox update its child safety policies to be more effective.[22][36] On August 19, Ro Khanna announced on TikTok that his petition received nearly 100,000 signatures.[37]
After the backlash, Roblox Corporation released a statement on their decision to ban vigilante groups, reasoning that vigilante groups normalized inappropriate conduct on Roblox by impersonating minors and moving users off-site to participate in sexual conversations.[38] It also said that vigilantes posing as minors is dangerous to the platform and makes them equivalent to predators.[39] In a statement to Rolling Stone, the company shared quotes from police, attorneys, and academics describing how vigilante groups can interfere with official investigations and undermine criminal proceedings.[13] On August 15, Louisiana attorney general Liz Murril sued Roblox due to alleged lack of child safety, calling it the platform "perfect place for pedophiles",[39] the lawsuit was reportedly made in relation with the controversy.[5] Matt Kaufman, head of Roblox security, made a video on August 16 addressing the concerns, saying that Schlep's actions represented "vigilantism".[40] Schlep rebuffed the company's portrayal of him as a vigilante, saying he has not "taken the law into his own hands".[13]
On September 5, 2025, Roblox CEO David Baszucki was interviewed by CNBC journalist about child safety on Roblox and Schlep ban controversy. Baszucki stated he plans to add new child safety measures and contacted Schlep for feedback, saying he “would love” his help in maintaining the platform's security.[41] Schlep called Baszucki's comments "PR stunt", his legal team warned Roblox that this statement is "inappropriate" because of it ignoring Schlep's past attempts to communicate with its employees.[42]
Legal action
On August 15, Schlep announced that he had hired lawyers with the intention to countersue Roblox.[3][43] Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley, the law firm that represents Schlep, stated that Roblox's policies have enabled child predators, adding that they represent over 500 clients with similar stories of abuse.[44] Steven Vanderporten, one of the lawyers, stated that Roblox's decision to ban Schlep suggests their carelessness about child safety and the suppression of criticism.[45] He also stated that inappropriate games on Roblox have existed for almost 20 years, and that Roblox did nothing about them and used them to make profit.[14] Law by Mike, a lawyer and YouTuber with over 14 million subscribers, announced his partnership with the legal team representing Schlep on September 1 to sue Roblox.[46] Schlep confirmed his legal team's partnership with the YouTuber, adding that he has not filed a lawsuit due to being focused on “raising awareness about the dangers of Roblox".[47]
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