Adult interactions on Roblox to face enhanced scrutiny through age checks and stricter safety measures
The popular video game platform, Roblox, has found itself at the centre of a series of controversies regarding child safety in recent years. In August, the US state of Louisiana filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing it of facilitating child exploitation and the distribution of child sexual abuse material.
In a bid to address these concerns, Roblox's head of safety, Matt Kaufman, announced several steps to strengthen parental controls and better label user-created content. The company plans to expand age estimation to all users who access on-platform communication features by the end of this year.
Roblox, which boasts around 100 million daily users, aims to combine estimates of users' ages, checks on official IDs, and parental consent to limit communication between adults and minors. Under-13s account for around 40 percent of the game's user base.
The new systems will be designed to limit communication between adults and minors unless they know each other in the real world. This is a significant move, given the platform's reputation for allowing users to communicate freely with one another.
Last year, activist short-selling investment firm Hindenburg Research accused Roblox of inflating its monthly active player count and not sufficiently protecting users from sexual predators. The company's response to these allegations has been met with mixed reactions, but its latest announcement marks a clear effort to address these concerns.
Several governments around the world, including Britain, France, and other EU countries, are stepping up age controls online. Britain has imposed strict age controls on websites, social networks, and video-sharing platforms under the Online Safety Act. France and other EU countries plan to test a new age-verification tool for adult content in the coming months.
While there are no specific global governments publicly announced to test a new age verification system for adult content similar to the UK's Online Safety Act in the near future, the European Digital Services Act mandates online platforms to protect minors, which may influence similar measures in European countries.
Roblox is a massive online platform where players can create their own game-within-a-game and share it with others. The experiences range from driving or sports to live concerts or shooting games. The platform's popularity among children and teens has made it a target for scrutiny, and the company's recent announcement is a welcome step towards ensuring a safer environment for its youngest players.
