Roblox, facing a series of investigations and lawsuits regarding its child safety measures, will institute required facial verification for all users desiring access to communication features, commencing in January. The platform is also rolling out chat based on age, restricting users to communicating only with others in similar age ranges.
Users can voluntarily verify their age to ensure they can access communication features starting Tuesday. In early December, Roblox will begin enforcing the age-check requirement in select markets, including New Zealand, Australia and the Netherlands. Starting in January, all users globally will need to verify their age in order to utilize chat features.
The action follows several lawsuits, including those from the attorneys general of Louisiana and Texas, against Roblox concerning child safety issues. The lawsuits arose following reports that Roblox was putting young users at risk of explicit content and dangerous behaviors, such as grooming.
As part of the age-check, users will need to open their camera app and adhere to a set of on-screen prompts for facial verification. Roblox states that it will erase all user images or videos once the age-check is complete. Roblox also says that Persona, a third-party vendor processing the verification, will also erase images and videos after the process is done.
Upon completion of the age-check, users will be notified of their assigned age group. The six age groups are: under 9, 9 to 12, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, 18 to 20, and 21 plus.
Roblox stated during a briefing with reporters on Monday that users can chat with other users in their designated age group and similar age groups where appropriate.
For instance, a person estimated to be 12 years old will be placed in the 9 to 12 age group. They can then chat with users aged 15 or younger. Users aged 16 or older will not be able to communicate with this user.
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Raj Bhatia, Roblox’s VP and head of user and discovery product, stated during the briefing, “We view these changes as a way of helping to ensure that users can interact with others of appropriate age, while also limiting contact between adults and minors they don’t know.”
The company claims the new age-check requirement offers a more reliable method of confirming user ages, compared to users simply entering their birth year when creating an account.
Matt Kaufman, Roblox’s chief safety officer, noted during the briefing, “We believe that this is a first for a company like Roblox in the social media, gaming, and messaging field, to require explicit age estimation before granting communication access.”
Roblox has also announced the launch of a new Safety Center to provide resources and guidance for parents and caregivers, and to enable them to configure Parental Controls.
