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(NEW YORK) — Over 54 million users play Roblox, a popular multiplayer online game, every day and nearly half of them are under the age of 13, according to the company. At first glance, it may seem cartoonish and harmless but one watchdog group is sounding the alarm about inappropriate content in the game.

Roblox is promoted as a game that “brings people together through play,” where kids can get creative and build their own worlds and games and share them with others virtually.

However, the nonprofit group Common Sense Media says it can be easy for kids to stumble onto content that is sexual, racist, homophobic or anti-Semitic in nature.

Bennett, 9, told ABC News’ Good Morning America he discovered such content unintentionally while playing on Roblox two years ago.

“I found this random game … and I heard a bad song and a bad picture,” the boy recalled.

Bennett’s father Bryan said he still remembers when his son spoke up and showed him what he had found.

“I’ll never forget how he kind of leaned over and handed me the iPad and he goes, ‘Dad, you know, something doesn’t look right,'” Bryan told GMA.

The graphic Bennett had found — one of a woman’s rear end in a thong — appeared even though his Roblox account had age restrictions in place.

“I enabled the account restrictions which, according to Roblox, meant that my son would not be able to play any games that weren’t specifically curated and deemed appropriate by Roblox,” Bryan said, adding that he found additional inappropriate content on Roblox after the first incident.

Roblox told ABC News that Bennett’s experience isn’t common and the company has improved its moderation systems since 2020 and that the company takes steps to prioritize children’s safety.

“These types of experiences are not reflective of the Roblox platform and are in clear violation of our Community Standards,” the corporation said in a statement. “The safety of our community, especially children, is our top priority. We have strong systems and protocols in place to ensure these types of experiences are swiftly removed within minutes whenever bad actors attempt to circumvent our rules and that the possibility children would ever come across this content remains extremely low. We’re continually working hard to ensure people of all ages have a positive and safe experience on our platform.”

Oftentimes, inappropriate content appearing on Roblox is uploaded by independent users and isn’t listed or promoted by Roblox, according to the company. Roblox said the inappropriate content is promoted in users’ profiles or on social media platforms like Discord or TikTok. Roblox moderators take down such games and rooms when they’re discovered but because the gaming platform is so expansive, they can’t keep up with the sheer amount of content getting created constantly.

“A lot of it does wind up getting pulled down when it’s found. But it can easily be re-uploaded within a matter of seconds,” Jeff Haynes, a senior editor of video games and websites at Common Sense Media, explained.

Common Sense Media rates Roblox as age appropriate for children 13 and over but it does note that the gaming platform has “continuing challenges with problematic content.” For younger children, the group said it’s “potentially OK” as long as “account restrictions are turned on and parents pay close attention to their kids’ activities.”

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(NEW YORK) — Juul agreed to pay nearly half a billion dollars Tuesday as part of a settlement with 34 states over the way it marketed its vaping products.

The $438.5 million agreement in principle with Juul Labs resolves a two-year investigation into the e-cigarette manufacturer’s marketing and sales practices. In addition to the financial terms, the settlement would force Juul to comply with a series of strict injunctive terms severely limiting its marketing and sales practices.

The company also misrepresented that its product was a smoking cessation device without U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to make such claims, according to the investigation.

While traditional cigarette use has plummeted among youth, vaping is skyrocketing, undermining national progress toward reducing tobacco use. The National Youth Tobacco Survey conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in 2019 that more than 5 million youth reported having used e-cigarettes within the past 30 days, up from 3.6 million just one year prior.

The FDA removed Juul products from the U.S. market earlier this year.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, one of those states in the settlement, said Juul became the dominant player in the vape market “by willfully engaging in an advertising campaign that appealed to youth, even though its e-cigarettes are both illegal for them to purchase and are unhealthy for youth to use.”

The investigation found that Juul relentlessly marketed to underage users with launch parties, advertisements using young and trendy-looking models, social media posts and free samples. It marketed a technology-focused, sleek design that could be easily concealed and sold its product in flavors known to be attractive to underage users. Juul also manipulated the chemical composition of its product to make the vapor less harsh on the throats of the young and inexperienced users, according to the investigators.

To preserve its young customer base, Juul relied on age-verification techniques that it knew were ineffective, Tong said.

The investigation further revealed that Juul’s original packaging was misleading in that it did not clearly disclose that it contained nicotine and implied that it contained a lower concentration of nicotine than it actually did. Consumers were also led to believe that consuming one Juul pod was the equivalent of smoking one pack of combustible cigarettes.

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(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — U.S. labor unions enjoy their highest level of approval in almost 60 years, as high-profile worker victories at Amazon and Starbucks have galvanized public support. However, union membership — the lifeblood of the labor movement — has fallen to a historic low.

The decline of labor power stems in part from federal labor law, since employers retain wide latitude to obstruct union campaigns, labor experts told ABC News. Businesses, in turn, often push down wages and weaken labor conditions in pursuit of a competitive advantage, exploiting the lack of worker representation at their firms, the experts said.

But a first-of-its-kind state law that California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed on Monday — as the U.S. celebrated Labor Day — could circumvent those challenges and transform the future of worker bargaining, the analysts said.

The law allows hundreds of thousands of fast food workers to bargain collectively over the terms of their work at large companies across the sector, rather than be forced to form a union at a single workplace and negotiate with one employer at a time. Using a newly created state-level council, California could raise pay and improve working conditions for the industry.

“It’s really significant because it’s giving fast food workers a seat at the table on a sector-wide basis,” Sharon Block, the executive director of the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard University Law School, told ABC News.

“Once this is up and running, fast food companies can’t compete against each other based on who can drive down labor costs as much as possible to make themselves more profitable,” she added.

The law made it through the California Senate by a margin of 21 to 12 last Monday, after the state assembly passed a version of the measure in January.

“One of the things that makes California a special place, by definition, is we’re the fifth largest economy in the world,” Newsom said on Monday in a video posted on Twitter by the Office of the Governor of California.

“But that didn’t happen by chance. We’ve long had a formula — a formula of success around growth and inclusion,” he added. “So many states forget the latter part of that formula.”

The law creates a 10-person council made up of industry and worker representatives, as well as two state officials, that could set standards across the sector on issues of health and safety, and impose an industry-wide minimum wage.

Angelica Hernandez, a crew manager at a Los Angeles-based McDonald’s, said she welcomes the potential to influence conditions at the company.

“They make us do the work of two to three people, and yet our salary is barely just enough for one person,” she told ABC News.

When Angelica began working at McDonald’s 17 years ago, she made around $7.50 or $8.50 per hour, she said. Now, she makes $17.75 per hour but still struggles to pay for what she needs, she said.

“Now, we’ll have a say to better represent what workers need across the industry,” she said.

McDonald’s did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

The law does have limitations. It puts a ceiling on a potential minimum wage for fast food workers at $22 next year. At that time, the statewide minimum wage will reach $15.50. Cost-of-living adjustments in the industry-wide minimum wage are required by the law but would not go into effect until 2024.

Moreover, decisions made by the sector-wide council will only apply to large companies with 100 or more locations nationwide.

The law marks a dramatic advance for the labor movement in its effort to organize workers, like those in fast food, who’ve struggled to improve conditions in their industries, said Mary Kay Henry, the president of the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, one of the nation’s largest unions and a major backer of the law.

“We think this model is a gigantic step forward for workers who’ve been excluded since the beginning of time in our country,” Henry told ABC News.

SEIU supports efforts to spread the model to other states, including worker-friendly state houses in New York and Illinois, she said. Ultimately, she added, the union aims to enshrine the model into federal law.

“Over labor history, law has always followed the militant action of workers who are fearless and determined in making new models happen,” she said.

Some industry representatives have opposed the law. Michelle Korsmo, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association, a trade group, warned that it will lead to increased costs for the fast food sector, which will place a significant burden on small businesses.

“It’s rare that a state legislature passes a bill that would hurt small businesses, their employees, and their customers,” Korsmo said in a statement, adding that this law “does just that.”

“This comes at a time when inflation is at record highs and families are struggling every month,” she said.

Some precedent exists for the law — both domestically and abroad. Workers routinely negotiate on a sector-wide basis in some European countries, including, for instance, fast food workers in Denmark.

A similar model raised wages for fast food workers in New York, where a statewide labor board in 2015 set the minimum wage for the industry at $15 per hour. It marked one of the first major victories for the Fight for $15, a labor movement that aimed to raise wages and unionize the fast food sector.

New York’s wage board — a statute that allows a governor to call a commission to investigate and raise pay for a given sector — went into effect during the New Deal era.

“Folks discovered this thing still existed, dusted it off, and tried it,” Shaun Richman, a labor scholar at State University of New York’s Empire College, told ABC News. “It made SEIU true believers of this process.”

Now, California has passed a law that will allow fast food workers to negotiate for pay and better conditions on an ongoing basis.

“It’s replicable,” Richman said. “There’s a tremendous amount of potential to increase union power.”

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(NEW YORK) — CVS Health announced on Monday it has reached a deal to acquire home healthcare provider Signify Health for approximately $8 billion.

Per the terms of the agreement, CVS will pay $30.50 per share in cash for Signify.

“Signify Health will play a critical role in advancing our health care services strategy and gives us a platform to accelerate our growth in value-based care,” CVS Health President and CEO Karen S. Lynch said in a statement. “This acquisition will enhance our connection to consumers in the home and enables providers to better address patient needs as we execute our vision to redefine the health care experience. In addition, this combination will strengthen our ability to expand and develop new product offerings in a multi-payor approach.”

The transaction, which was approved by both companies’ board of directors, is expected to close in the first half of 2023. It is still subject to “approval by a majority of Signify Health’s stockholders, receipt of regulatory approval and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions,” CVS said.

Once the deal is finalized, CVS said Signify Health CEO Kyle Armbrester will stay on to lead Signify as part of CVS Health.

“Signify Health’s mission is to build trusted relationships to make people healthier by using actionable intelligence to understand what’s really impacting outcomes and cost today,” Armbrester said in a statement. “As we carefully considered our long-term strategic options, we determined that CVS Health is the ideal partner, given its focus on expanding access to health services and helping consumers navigate to the best sites of care. We are both building an integrated experience that supports a more proactive, preventive and holistic approach to patient care, and I look forward to executing on our shared vision for the future of care delivery.”

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(NEW YORK) — New York City is suing Starbucks over allegations the coffee corporation unlawfully fired a Queens barista who had been involved in unionization efforts, a city agency announced Friday.

The lawsuit marks the latest in a string of legal disputes over the termination of unionizing Starbucks workers as hundreds of Starbucks stores nationwide have voted to unionize since an initial union victory at a store in Buffalo, New York, last December.

The lawsuit in New York City alleges that Starbucks wrongfully fired worker and union organizer Austin Locke in early July, less than a month after employees at the store where he worked voted to join a union.

Starbucks violated the city’s “just cause” protections, enacted last year, which make it illegal for fast food employers to fire or lay off long-serving workers, or reduce their hours by more than 15 percent, without providing just cause or an economic reason, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, or DCWP, claimed Friday.

In mid-July, the DCWP received a complaint from Locke alleging that Starbucks had illegally fired him, which the agency quickly investigated, a statement from the agency on Friday said.

The records and information Starbucks provided during the investigation did not refute or mitigate the agency’s determination that Starbucks illegally fired him, the DCWP added.

DCWP is seeking an order requiring that Starbucks reinstate Locke and rescind the discipline issued to him, as well as provide back pay and other compensation for lost work, the statement said. Starbucks should also pay civil penalties and comply with the law going forward, the statement said.

“There are now 235 unionized Starbucks around the country,” Locke said in a statement. “Starbucks continues to wrongfully fire pro-union workers nationwide in retaliation for union organizing.”

In response to the lawsuit, a Starbucks spokesperson told ABC News: “We do not comment on pending litigation but we do intend to defend against this alleged violation of the city’s Just Cause law.”

The lawsuit in New York City follows other legal challenges to Starbucks over its treatment of unionizing employees. Last month, a federal judge called for the immediate reinstatement of seven baristas at a store in Memphis, who were terminated in February after talking to a local TV station about their organizing drive.

Federal labor regulators last week filed a complaint that accused Starbucks of illegally discriminating against unionized employees by refusing to provide increases in wages and benefits that the company offered to nonunion workers.

In a response last week, Starbucks said it cannot raise wages and benefits for unionized workers because federal law requires the company to negotiate such terms of employment with the union at stores where workers have opted to join one. “Wages and benefits are mandatory subjects of the collective bargaining process,” Starbucks said in a statement.

In New York City, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, a Democrat, applauded the city’s lawsuit on Friday.

“Protecting workers’ rights to organize and unionize is critical, and employers who try to undermine and violate those rights must be held accountable,” she said in a statement.

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(WASHINGTON) — U.S. hiring slowed from its breakneck pace but remained robust in August, with the economy adding 315,000 jobs and the unemployment rate rising to 3.7%, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.

The report comes one week after Fed Chair Jerome Powell triggered a stock sell-off and stoked recession fears with his vow to fight inflation with interest rate hikes “until the job is done.”

The Fed has instituted a series of aggressive borrowing cost increases in recent months as it tries to slash near-historic inflation by slowing the economy and choking off demand. But the approach risks tipping the U.S. into an economic downturn.

So far this year, however, employment has boomed. The robust hiring numbers have defied expectations and quieted fears of a major slowdown.

U.S. hiring far outpaced expectations in July, as the economy added a blockbuster 528,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics last month.

The jobs added in July exceeded the already-robust hiring sustained over the first half of 2022, during which the economy added an average of 461,000 jobs each month.

Government data put out this week reinforced evidence that the jobs market remains strong. Job openings rose in July after falling for three consecutive months, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday, which showed job openings on the last day of July had jumped to 11.2 million from 11 million the month prior.

The labor market has withstood the Fed’s effort to slow the economy, even as the central bank tries to bring down inflation in part by cutting demand for workers and slowing wage increases, AnnElizabeth Konkel, a senior economist with Indeed Hiring Lab, told ABC News.

At meetings in June and July, the central bank increased its benchmark interest rate 0.75% each time — dramatic hikes last matched in 1994.

“We aren’t seeing the employer demand get tamped down,” Konkel said. “Your interpretation of it in a macro sense depends on what hat you’re wearing.”

“If you’re a worker and see a strong labor market, that means you have choices,” she added. “You might be able to negotiate a higher wage or flexibility on work location. If you’re the Fed, it means your job just got tougher.”

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(JACKSON, Miss.) — When the water stopped running at her restaurant in Jackson, Mississippi, on Monday afternoon, Tanya Burns was preparing for a private event set to begin about one hour later. Suddenly, her dishwasher didn’t work and her toilets couldn’t flush.

“How do you host something for people and you can’t flush toilets?” Burns, the manager of BRAVO! Italian Restaurant and Bar, told ABC News. She canceled the event.

“We have not been open since,” she said.

The restaurant is one of many businesses in Jackson that have suffered as the city reaches nearly a full work week of little or no water, according to interviews with local business leaders.

The financial challenges stretch back even further, they said, since the city has fallen under a boil-water notice for more than a month that puts the onus on companies to sanitize water or find alternatives, while at the same time customers dial back shopping for fear of the services a business might lack.

In an interview on ABC News Live Tuesday, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, the mayor of Jackson, said the current crisis stems from up to 30 years of deferred maintenance and a lack of capital improvements to the system.

“We’ve had hotter summers, colder winters and more precipitation each year and it’s taking a toll on our infrastructure,” he said.

The crisis in recent days has only intensified the difficulties, as businesses either take on heightened costs for fixes like portable toilets and on-site water tanks that allow them to stay open, or temporarily close their doors altogether.

Jackson, a city of roughly 150,000 people, has an economy with a gross domestic product of over $28 billion, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Jeff Rent, the president and CEO of the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership, which boasts roughly 1,400 member companies, said about 75 businesses have contacted him this week with concern about the impact of the water shortage. “It’s very dire,” he said of the crisis.

The effects of the shortage likely extend to just about every business in Jackson, he added, since many staff who live in the city cannot shower, companies that need clean water often must buy it and in-person workplaces need functioning toilets for customers and employees.

“If you do business in Jackson, this has affected you,” he said.

On the other hand, Gotta Go Site Service Rentals, which rents mobile facilities like portable toilets and hand-washing stations, has seen demand surge, the owner, Lauren McGraw, told ABC News.

“We’ve been swamped,” she said, adding that the company has been contacted by hundreds of new clients since Monday. “We’re getting so many calls we can’t handle them.”

The company, which employs 18 people and currently rents facilities to the state capitol building, purchased several hundred additional toilets from a supplier in Georgia to help meet the spike in demand, McGraw said. All of the employees are working overtime, as well as McGraw, she added.

The company has also raised prices. While prices vary widely, they’ve climbed about 50% overall, in part to account for a rise in costs as the company weathers the additional work, McGraw said.

Despite her company’s sudden growth in business, McGraw laments the devastating reason behind it.

“It’s not fun because we want to give great service,” she said. “It’s tragic to turn people down that you know need equipment and you can’t get it to them.”

Steven O’Neill, the co-owner of two Jackson-area restaurants, The Manship and Aplos, found himself in need of quick solutions when the water stopped running at his locations on Monday afternoon with customers in the middle of their meals. The restaurants informed their customers of the water shortage, let them finish their meals, and closed for the day, he said.

The two restaurants reopened the following morning and have remained in operation ever since. To do so, the company bought portable toilets and hand-washing stations, plastic plates and cutlery for customer use and water tanks that funnel clean water into the restaurants, O’Neill said.

But traffic at the restaurants has dried up, leaving the business with increased costs and a drop-off in revenue. Sales at Aplos is down 30% this week; and at The Manship, it’s down 50%. The company is barely breaking even, he said.

O’Neill has kept on all of his staff, but he may need to “make hard decisions” soon, he said.

“It’s a horrible situation to be in,” he said.

When asked whether he might take the restaurants out of Jackson altogether, he said, “It’s hard. I haven’t made that decision yet.”

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(NEW YORK) — Policymakers and market watchers will be closely watching August hiring data as it comes out Friday.

The report comes one week after Fed Chair Jerome Powell triggered a stock sell-off and stoked recession fears with his vow to fight inflation with interest rate hikes “until the job is done.”

The Fed has instituted a series of aggressive borrowing cost increases in recent months as it tries to slash near-historic inflation by slowing the economy and choking off demand. But the approach risks tipping the U.S. into an economic downturn.

So far this year, however, employment has boomed. The robust hiring numbers have defied expectations and quieted fears of a major slowdown.

U.S. hiring far outpaced expectations in July, as the economy added 528,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, which matches a 50-year low, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics last month.

The jobs added in July exceeded the already-robust hiring sustained over the first half of 2022, during which the economy added an average of 461,000 jobs each month.

Economists project hiring to have slowed from its breakneck pace, but predict fairly robust numbers in August. Predictions hold that the U.S. added 300,000 jobs last month, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The experts surveyed expect the unemployment rate to remain at 3.5%.

Government data put out this week reinforced evidence that the jobs market remains strong. Job openings rose in July after falling for three consecutive months, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday, which showed job openings on the last day of July had jumped to 11.2 million from 11 million the month prior.

The labor market has withstood the Fed’s effort to slow the economy, even as the central bank tries to bring down inflation in part by cutting demand for workers and slowing wage increases, AnnElizabeth Konkel, a senior economist with Indeed Hiring Lab, told ABC News.

At meetings in June and July, the central bank increased its benchmark interest rate 0.75% each time — dramatic hikes last matched in 1994.

“We aren’t seeing the employer demand get tamped down,” Konkel said. “Your interpretation of it in a macro sense depends on what hat you’re wearing.”

“If you’re a worker and see a strong labor market, that means you have choices,” she added. “You might be able to negotiate a higher wage or flexibility on work location. If you’re the Fed, it means your job just got tougher.”

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(NEW YORK) — More than 14,000 strollers are being recalled due to an issue that can cause amputation or laceration if a child’s fingertips get caught.

The recall, posted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on Thursday, said the recall impacts UPPAbaby All-Terrain RIDGE Jogging Stroller’s – which were sold at BuyBuyBaby, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Pottery Barn Kids as well as online on Amazon.

According to the notice, the stroller’s rear disc brakes have openings that can harm a non-occupant child’s fingers if they get caught in the opening while the stroller is in use.

CPSC said it was aware of at least one incident resulting in a fingertip amputation to a child who was not in the stroller while it was being used.

Consumers are advised to “immediately” stop using the recalled strollers and contact UPPAbaby to receive free replacement brake discs for both wheels.

UPPAbaby did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

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(NEW YORK) — High-speed internet is coming to the high seas, as Royal Caribbean announced it would implement Elon Musk’s Starlink internet on all its ships.

The company said the technology will “improve and enable” high-bandwidth activities such as video streaming and video calls on its sailings. It also said the connectivity will “make it easier for guests and crew to remain connected to work, family and friends – no matter where they are in the world.”

Starlink — a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit launched by SpaceX — was created to bring internet access to underserved areas of the world. The project boasts high-speed, low-latency internet.

Deployment will begin “immediately” and completed by the first quarter of 2023, Royal Caribbean said.

“This technology will provide game-changing internet connectivity onboard our ships, enhancing the cruise experience for guests and crew alike,” Jason Liberty, president and chief executive officer of Royal Caribbean Group, said in a press release.

The news comes after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorized SpaceX to provide satellite internet to vehicles in motion earlier this summer.

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