Roblox will soon require all users to complete a facial age check to access any chat feature, becoming the first major online gaming and communication platform to impose such a rule according to its blog post.
The company says it has introduced this rule to better protect minors by ensuring they communicate only with people in similar age groups. However, the decision also raises questions about privacy, data handling, and how the policy will be enforced at scale.
Users can already complete the verification voluntarily, but Roblox will start enforcing the requirement in early December in countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands. And by early January, the rule will apply across all regions where chat features are available.
Facial Age Estimation And Age-Appropriate Interactions
Roblox is offering two ways to verify a user’s age: a Facial Age Estimation process using the device camera, or standard ID verification. The company says its vendor, Persona, processes images and videos submitted for age estimation and deletes them immediately afterward. Notably, Roblox has made the age check optional, but users who skip it cannot access the chat feature.
After a user’s age is verified, Roblox will place them into one of several age bands ranging from under nine years of age to users 21 and above. These age bands will assist Roblox in restricting chat interactions for underage users, as they will not allow minors to communicate with adults unless they add them as “Trusted Connections”, a feature meant for family members or people the user personally knows.
Importantly, children under nine will have their chat in experiences turned off by default unless a parent provides consent after completing the age check. While, users under 13 will continue to face chat filters and limitations on what they can share.
Parents will still be able to manage their child’s linked account, including updating birthdays through parental controls. And Roblox also offers tools to block or report users, providing transparency options to show which accounts a teen interacts with.
Additional Restrictions Coming Next Year
Roblox says it will require age checks next year for users who want to access social media links on profiles, communities or experience details pages. The platform plans to remove creators’ ability to share social media links inside experiences and will continue blocking image and video sharing in chat.
The virtual gaming company says that it monitors all chat, voice and text, using AI systems and does not encrypt it. It also restricts links for most users and only allows commercial links through approved advertising.
Starting early next year, age verification will also apply to “Team Create”, a collaborative feature in Roblox Studio where only users in compatible age groups will be able to work together in shared development spaces.
A Major Shift With Industry Implications
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