Roblox Expands Age Verification and Safety Measures to Protect Young Users

Roblox expands use of age estimation tech and introduces standardized ratings | TechCrunch

Amid lawsuits alleging child safety concerns, online gaming service Roblox announced on Wednesday that it's expanding its age estimation technology to all users and partnering with the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) to provide age and content ratings for the games and apps on its platform. The company said that by year's end, the age estimation system will be rolled out to all Roblox users who access the company's communication tools, like voice and text-based chat. This involves scanning users' selfies and analyzing facial features to estimate age. This age estimation tech is combined with other systems, including ID age verification and verified parental consent, to provide a more accurate measure of a user's age, Roblox says -- especially when compared with simply having kids type in a birth year when they create an account. The company notes that it's also planning to launch systems that will further limit communications between adults and minors on its platform. Meanwhile, the company's partnership with IARC will see Roblox replacing its own content and maturity labels with those used by rating agencies worldwide. That means users in the U.S. will see ratings from the ESRB, while other countries will see those used by their own ratings authorities. Players in the Republic of Korea will see ratings from GRAC; players in Germany will see ratings from the USK; and players elsewhere in Europe and the United Kingdom will see ratings from the PEGI, for instance. This system is meant to help parents better understand what sort of games their kids are playing, based on factors that could raise concerns, like whether game content features blood or gore, violence, substances, gambling, adult language, and more. These updates follow earlier moves the company announced in July, designed to better protect younger users. Roblox introduced a series of safety features, including the age-verification system that analyzes users' ages via video selfies. This information is used to prevent users younger than 13 from accessing certain features within Roblox, like the ability to voice and text chat without filters. Roblox also prevents users ages 13 to 17 from adding users to their "trusted connections" unless they know them in real life -- something Roblox verified through contact imports or QR code scans. The move also follows the rollout of increasingly strict laws and regulations around the world that require social platforms to verify users' ages, like the U.K.'s Online Safety Act and Mississippi's age assurance law, which has already seen social network Bluesky stop serving users in the state. Similar laws are in various stages in other states, including Arizona, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Virginia. Roblox has invested in safety features over the years, as well. Among its tools is Roblox Sentinel, an open source AI system designed to detect early signals of child endangerment. The company also offers parental controls, tools to restrict communications, and technology that detects when there are servers where a large number of users are breaking its rules, so it can take them down. Despite its efforts, child predators still manage to access the platform and target children, according to complaints filed by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and in other lawsuits across California, Texas, and Pennsylvania. In addition, The Guardian recently reported on a research study that discovered that kids on Roblox's service can still easily come across inappropriate content and interact with bad actors. More recently, a popular Roblox farming simulator game, Grow a Garden, made headlines because its players began buying and selling its virtual items on online marketplaces for real money, in violation of the platform's rules. Parents and others raised concerns that the game was luring in children, then pushing them to spend cash to keep up with other players. The changes to the ratings system may not put an end to all these bad experiences, but it could at least provide parents with more insight about the games their kids are playing. "Roblox is committed to creating a safe platform for our users and empowering parents to make the best decision for their children," said Matt Kaufman, Roblox's chief safety officer, in a prepared statement. "We're excited to partner with IARC and hope it will provide parents globally with more clarity and confidence regarding age-appropriate content."

Roblox announces age verification features for in-game communications -- what you need to know

Players will be placed into categories based on their age to help keep them safer online The popular online gaming platform Roblox has announced it will be rolling out age verification features by the end of the year in an attempt to make the environment safer for younger users. According to reporting from Malwarebytes Lab, in order for players to access the communication features of the game, they'll need to submit to an age verification by submitting a selfie. While the company has not detailed yet how the analysis will work on its end, others use AI tools to estimate ages by analyzing facial features. Roblox says that once a user has their age estimated, they will be placed into an appropriate age group (either 13, 13+ or 18+) and then have their experience customized based around their grouping. Users who are placed in the under 13 age group will have their personal data, including their email and phone number, removed from Roblox. This move clearly intends to strengthen the safety of communications within the platform and stop inappropriate interactions between adult players and minors, by using facial age estimation, ID verification and parental consent. Roblox is aiming to ensure that all of its users can only access features and content that are suitable for their own age groups, and create a safer environment for its younger user base, at a time when many governments are moving to use age verification for websites with adult content. Roblox has taken a lot of backlash, and faced multiple lawsuits, for not putting enough protections in place for younger users. A lawsuit filed by the state of Louisiana alleges that the website created a location for predators to "thrive, unite, hunt and victimize kids," while one filed by the state of California called it "a real life nightmare for children." First, when setting up a Roblox account, make sure to avoid using your child's real name, but do use an appropriate or approximate birth date to make sure the relevant restrictions are in place after doing so. From there, you want to make sure you can access your child's account settings to limit or disable friend requests and online chat capabilities entirely. You can also use Roblox's Parental Controls to limit access to age appropriate content and games, as well as to enable features like screen time limits. It's also equally important that you have conversations with your child and make sure they know to never take chats offline, or to any other platform. You also want to teach your children online safety tips, like to never to share any personal information such as their address and not to click on any links sent by strangers. They also need to know and be comfortable sharing their online experiences with you. Playing the game with them to understand the rules and how it works can be very helpful too. Then on your end, you want to stay informed about updates, features and changes to the game as they're rolled out. Lastly, make sure to keep the devices that your children are playing on are protected by the best antivirus software and have their operating systems updated regularly too in order to keep them safe from malware and other online threats.

Major Roblox change will make logging in a hassle, but there's a good reason

Most parents have always been cautious about spaces in online gaming, but Roblox has come under fire more recently after it allegedly failed to implement proper safety protocols for kids. The accusations against Roblox were so severe that Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said, "Roblox is overrun with harmful content and child predators because it prioritizes user growth, revenue, and profits over child safety." That's a strong statement, and in response, Roblox's Chief Safety Officer, Matt Kaufman, has announced a new plan to implement age estimation for all users. Users will need to verify their age through one or more methods, including potentially uploading a selfie so that an AI can estimate their age based on facial features. Recommended Videos "Using a combination of facial age estimation technology, ID age verification, and verified parental consent, this process will provide a more accurate measure of a user's age than simply relying on what someone types in when they create an account," Kaufman writes. Roblox is far from the first game to require features like this, though it is perhaps the most prominent due to its relatively younger user base. Genshin Impact has required players to verify their age since May 20 of this year. All players have until July 2026 to complete the request or their accounts will be permanently deleted. Companies should take action to keep children safe online, and this is a step in the right direction. That said, it does raise potentially significant privacy concerns. How safe is "safe?" Numerous countries have age verification laws for everything from online gambling to accessing pornographic materials, and these laws usually require users to upload their ID, a picture, or a video of themselves to prove they're the age they claim. The UK's Online Safety Act is one example of these guidelines. However, the systems aren't perfect. They can (and have) been tricked through various methods. One recent case of this is users who defeated Reddit and Discord's UK age verification through Death Stranding's photo mode. And of course, kids can simply play on their parents' accounts to bypass the restrictions. One of the biggest questions this guideline raises is how secure Roblox intends to make its age verification servers. With users uploading sensitive data like their license or other forms of ID, the risk of data breaches takes a big leap forward. The concern isn't without a basis. Data breaches and large-scale hacks are relatively common, even with more secure systems. Just this week, Gmail supposedly suffered a major data breach, although Google denies the attack. In July of this year, Microsoft SharePoint was breached and revealed data from businesses, universities, and other agencies across the globe. And that's just two examples. That said, Roblox does address these concerns. In its FAQ page for age verification, the service writes, "We want you to know that we take our community's safety and privacy seriously, and Roblox never stores raw ID document data. When a government-issued ID is scanned for verification, an anonymized value is generated, allowing Roblox to safely verify identity without risking exposure of the user's real identity." In addition, Roblox doesn't handle verification solely on its own. The company partners with a third-party provider called Persona for age verification. Your personal information remains with Persona for 30 days, after which "uploaded data is removed from Persona." Privacy is a small trade to keep kids safe While I can understand why some users are concerned about privacy, the argument also feels like a moot point. Today's Internet is not the same as it was in the late 90s and early 2000s. Everyone attaches their real name to things, and the number of interconnected systems is mind-boggling. Ask yourself: how many things do you log into using your Gmail account? If anonymity were as big a concern now as it was 25 years ago, I could see more value in the argument -- but as it is, the average person's online safety practices are abysmal. Between repeated passwords, haphazard use of public Wi-Fi, and any number of other factors, it's honestly astounding that large-scale hacks don't occur more frequently than they already do. Roblox deserves some kudos for the efforts it has taken to keep its users safe. Since January, the platform has rolled out over 100 different safety initiatives, including an AI-powered detection tool called Roblox Sentinel that's trained to detect "early signs of child endangerment." According to Naren Koneru, Roblox's Vice President of Engineering and Safety, Roblox Sentinel helped identify nearly 1,200 reports of child exploitation in the first half of 2025 alone. Part of the problem lies in Roblox's nature as a creation and transaction platform. Those unfamiliar with it might think Roblox is a game in itself, but it's a game platform. Users can create their own games and host them on Roblox servers, and as of 2024, there were more than 40 million different games. The vast majority of these are untouched, with only a few rising to popularity. There are loads of kid-friendly games on there. Conversely, there are just as many (if not more) user-created games that are not child-appropriate. There is no system on the planet that can identify what games a kid should or should not play with perfect accuracy, and that's why it's important for parents to be particularly cautious when letting younger children play online. Recent safety updates have made that easier. According to Kaufman, games without a rating can't be played, social hangouts are restricted to age-verified users of an appropriate age, and more. In addition, he writes "Unlike many other online platforms, Roblox proactively monitors all text chat on the platform, prevents user-to-user image sharing, and has default settings designed to prevent users younger than 13 from using private chat or voice chat." It's not a perfect approach, but Roblox's goal for bettering child safety is something that other platforms popular among younger gamers, like Fortnite and Minecraft, should consider taking notes from.

Roblox continues efforts for child safety by expanding age estimation to all users by end of the year

Roblox has announced it will expand its age estimation requirement to all users of the platform who access its communication features by the end of the year. Back in July, the platform introduced new safety features, including an AI used to estimate a user's age through video selfie. Now, in a new statement, the company plans to roll out age verification for all users, through facial age estimation, ID age verification, and verified parental consent. Roblox also plans to limit communication between adults and minors, unless they know each other in the real world. "These added layers of protection will help provide users with access to developmentally appropriate features and content," reads the statement from chief safety officer Matt Kaufman. "We hope this move sets a standard that other gaming, social media, and communication platforms follow." In addition to age estimation, Roblox has made a number of other advancements in its safety features: Since January 2025, Roblox has shipped over a hundred safety initiatives in an effort to prove its commitment to child safety.