The online gaming platform Roblox is rolling out more new safety features. These new rules are meant specifically for the platform’s teenage users.
The new features are meant to give teenagers more freedom than their younger counterparts, but still not as much as adults.
What do the new safety features consist of?
The new features will apply to 13- to 17-year-olds on the platform.
Among them, teens will be able to name “trusted connections” with whom they will be able to chat without filters. Trusted connections are meant to be made between users who know each other well.
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Roblox says the new feature will “reduce the incentive for teens to move interactions off platform, where they may be exposed to greater risk.”
To establish these trusted connections, Roblox will have people submit a “video selfie.” Then, artificial intelligence will determine if it believes that the person is between 13 and 17 years old. If AI is not able to determine a person’s age, they can still submit an ID for verification.
Teens will only be allowed to make a connection with someone older than 18 on Roblox if they know them in real life. They’ll have to scan a QR code or use a “contact importer.”
Additionally, Roblox is adding new online status controls, so they can choose who can see when they’re online, and a “do not disturb” mode.
The platform is also rolling out new controls for parents who link a teen’s account to theirs. Through those, they’ll be able to monitor who their teens’ trusted connections are and which games they play.
Parents will also be able to set a daily limit for how long their teens spend on Roblox each day and sign up for notifications about their teens’ spending on the platform.
Why all the extra security measures?
Roblox is one of the most popular online gaming platforms in the country, and it does not have any official rules for how old a person must be to join. According to the data gathering company Statista, approximately 40% of Roblox’s users are 12 years old or younger.
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About 40% of Roblox users are 12 or younger, half of whom are younger than 9.
The platform has long been the subject of concern for children’s safety.
In October 2024, the investment research firm Hindenburg Research released a report, saying Roblox’s games exposed children to grooming, pornography, violent content and abusive speech. It is worth noting, however, that Hindenburg Research has said in the past that it looks to profit if Roblox’s share price falls.
Roblox has also been linked to multiple child exploitation cases.
In April, a 27-year-old California man was arrested for allegedly abducting a 10-year-old girl he’d met on Roblox. She was found more than 250 miles away from home, and the suspect was charged with kidnapping and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
And Revealing Reality, which bills itself as a “behavioral insights agency,” said in a recent report, “Despite the safety features in place, adults and children can easily interact in the same virtual spaces with no effective age verification or separation.”
The report was published in April, months after Roblox made what it called “major updates” to its safety systems and parental controls.
