Roblox Faces Pressure to Strengthen Child Protection

Roblox, a popular online gaming platform, has committed to implementing changes to better safeguard children from grooming and sexual abuse on its platform. This move comes after Australia’s eSafety commission discovered that Roblox still allowed adult users to contact children without parental consent, despite the platform having rolled out new measures in recent months.

Source: engadget.com

According to eSafety, tests conducted by the regulator showed that adults could still send connection requests to Australian children without parental consent and that children and adults could still view and respond to each other’s posts on community forums. Furthermore, the tests revealed that anyone on the game could view an underage user’s connections, profiles, biographies, account names, avatar images, and other information, with no option to restrict their visibility.

Roblox had previously introduced mandatory age verification in late 2025, starting with Australia, likely due to eSafety’s work. However, issues arose with the rollout, with kids spoofing the age check system. Roblox maintained that its technology was effective, but the eSafety commission’s findings suggest otherwise.

Following the initial release, Roblox started requiring age verification in the US to access the in-game chat. By mid-May this year, the platform segregated users into three age tiers: Kids, Select, and regular Roblox. Kids accounts can only access games with Minimal or Mild content ratings, with chat off by default, and a full suite of parental controls. The new age-gated account tier system was implemented globally in June.

Despite Roblox’s claims that it is meeting its obligations under the Online Safety Act, eSafety has agreed to introduce changes and additional safety measures. These include a way to ensure that adults cannot contact children they do not know without parental consent, making children’s accounts private by default, providing users with accessible reporting mechanisms, and having a third-party auditor assess the effectiveness of its safety measures. Roblox will have three months to implement these measures, or else eSafety could ask the court to compel the company to comply.

Roblox has been dealing with child safety issues for years and is facing lawsuits filed by several states in the US. In May, it agreed to pay Nevada a $12 million settlement and to introduce a verification system that requires users to submit government-issued IDs and undergo facial age estimation. Under its current system, users only need to complete one of the two methods to verify their ages. Additionally, Roblox has vowed to prevent users under 16 from messaging adults unless they have been designated a ‘trusted friend’ that can be assigned to users via QR code.

In response to the eSafety commission’s findings, Roblox has committed to a ‘court-enforceable undertaking’ to implement changes that would better protect children from grooming and sexual abuse on its platform. This move is a significant step towards strengthening child protection measures on the platform and ensuring that children are safe while playing online.

With the eSafety commission’s agreement, Roblox will have the opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to child safety and implement measures that will better protect children from harm. The company’s willingness to work with the regulator and make changes to its platform is a positive step towards creating a safer online environment for children.