County names its first three lawsuit targets: AppLovin, Roblox and Polymaker
Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer detailed the cases Monday at the County Administration Center. The complaints allege explicit ads and data harvesting on children's devices, predator contact on a gaming platform, and marketing to ghost-gun makers. All three suits were filed in San Diego Superior Court.
SAN DIEGO: San Diego County has named the defendants in the first three lawsuits from its new Consumer Fairness and Public Protection Unit: mobile advertising platform AppLovin, gaming platform Roblox and 3D-printing materials maker Polymaker. Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer detailed the cases Monday at the County Administration Center.
The AppLovin complaint alleges the company's technology bypassed parental controls and ad-tracking opt-outs, using fingerprinting to keep tracking children for ad targeting without parental consent. It says the platform served ads for adult dating services, alcohol, vaping, cannabis and graphic sexual content inside mobile games used by children, and collected sensitive data from children's devices that was 'precise enough to pinpoint where kids live, where they study and whether they are sleeping.'
The complaint includes screenshots of ads shown in a physics-based puzzle game installed on an Android device configured for a six-year-old with Google's parental controls enabled, including ads for a sexualized AI chatbot app and for cannabis gummies. AppLovin did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to the reporting; its policies state it does not 'knowingly collect personal information from children or serve advertisements to children.'
Roblox and Polymaker
The Roblox complaint alleges the platform, which the county says reaches about 144 million daily active users worldwide, marketed itself to parents and children as a safe place to play while failing to stop adults from posing as children and contacting young users. The county alleges predators used the platform to build trust with children, move conversations off Roblox and groom them for sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking.
The Polymaker complaint targets the 3D-printing filament maker. California law generally prohibits unlicensed people from using 3D printers to make unserialized firearms. The county alleges Polymaker knew those laws existed and still deliberately marketed certain filaments to people making 3D-printed ghost guns: creating firearm-themed products, partnering with gun-printing influencers, paying affiliates to promote its filament to gun-printing audiences and providing technical guidance for firearm applications. The release says the company sponsored gun-printing influencer Sean Aranda after YouTube demonetized his channel and later hired him as its head of customer experience.
What the county wants
The county is bringing the AppLovin claims under California's False Advertising Law and Unfair Competition Law, seeking injunctive relief, restitution and civil penalties. The Roblox claims cite the same two laws. The Polymaker suit asks the court to stop the alleged practices, impose civil penalties and require the company to give up proceeds tied to unlawful conduct.
"People should be able to trust the products they buy, the apps their kids use and the companies they deal with," Lawson-Remer said. "Families are already stretched thin by the cost of living. They should not also have to pay the price when companies mislead them, misuse their information or put their kids at risk. We built this team to stand up for San Diegans and make sure powerful companies play by the same rules as everyone else."
"The mission of the Consumer Fairness and Public Protection Unit is straightforward: when bad actors or unlawful business practices put our children, our families, and our communities at risk, this office is here to act," County Counsel Damon Brown said. "Our first three lawsuits filed today in San Diego Superior Court are proof positive that we have hit the ground running."
Lawson-Remer first called for a local consumer protection division in her 2025 State of the County Address, arguing the county needed stronger local enforcement as federal consumer protections were rolled back. The county's release says the national firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP serves as outside counsel in the AppLovin matter.
None to date. The Tribune corrects errors promptly and transparently. Read our corrections policy.
