Roblox, a leading online gaming platform with over 80 million daily players, is taking significant steps to enhance child safety amid growing concerns regarding inappropriate content and adult interactions. On its corporate blog, the company has claimed that it will be soon using facial age verification technology. Users will need to pass age checks in order to utilize chat features. This $10 million initiative is intended to protect its impressionable younger audience — the 40% of players who are under 13 years old.
The new age estimation technology, described as “pretty accurate” by Matt Kaufman, Roblox’s chief safety officer, can estimate users’ ages within a one to two-year range for those aged between five and 25. Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands will begin testing facial age checks the first week of December. Then beginning in January, these checks will be introduced all over the world.
Once users undergo the facial age verification process, they will be categorized into specific age groups: under nine, 9 to 12, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, 18 to 20, and 21+. Roblox employs this standard’s age-based categorization to tailor the gaming platform experience to each individual user’s age. This strategy is especially effective in preventing unwanted advances, too.
Roblox’s decision comes amidst criticism from parents and advocacy groups who have raised alarms over the platform’s vulnerability to child predators. A digital petition demanding stronger child-safety measures has garnered over 12,000 signatures, with supporters asserting that “Roblox must stop being a playground for predators.” Moreover, Roblox is currently being sued in Texas, Kentucky, and Louisiana over these child safety concerns.
Moving now to the platform’s earlier policies, the platform has come under fire for some of its past practices. Under-13 users will still continue to be barred from receiving private messages and other chat functionalities unless consented to by a parent. Parents will retain control over their child’s account, including the ability to update their child’s age once verification is completed.
Anna Lucas, online safety supervision director at Ofcom said the measures from Roblox were “fantastic”. She applauded these changes as a step in the right direction. She further explained that these new enforcement actions are a step in the right direction for protecting children online.
“ensure they deliver change for children in practice and prevent adult perpetrators from targeting and manipulating young users.” – Rani Govender
Roblox’s CEO, Dave Baszucki, has previously indicated that parents who have concerns about the platform’s safety should reconsider allowing their children to use it. This announcement caught a lot of advocates off guard. From their perspective, gaming companies must do more to be accountable for the safety of their constituents.
As Roblox continues into the implementation of its facial age verification program, it’s certainly one of those milestones in the history of gaming. Roblox has become the first major gaming platform to require background checks in order to access voice chat features. With this move, child safety is becoming a new baseline expectation across all online communities. We commend the company for taking steps to make the game of football safer for its younger athletes. It directly responds to long-standing concerns over adult interactions and explicit content.