Roblox has started rolling out voluntary age checks on its platform, which will become mandatory globally early next year, to “limit communication between minors and adults.”
Age verification will be conducted through the Roblox app using facial age estimation technology processed by Persona. Roblox has said any images or video will be “deleted immediately after processing.”
While age checks are currently optional on the platform, users will not be able to access certain features including chats unless an age check is completed.
Users will then be assigned to age-related chat groups. These include:
- Under nine
- Nine to 12
- 13 to 15
- 16 to 17
- 18 to 20
- 21+
Once sorted into one of these groups, users “will be able to chat with those in their own age group and similar age groups, as appropriate.”
During the first week of December, age verification will become mandatory in Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands. This will then be expanded globally to other markets in early January next year.
Roblox noted that during this part of the rollout age checks “will also be required to access social media links on user profiles, communities, and experience detail pages.”
“These new requirements will help us provide positive, age-appropriate experiences for all users on Roblox,” the firm said.
“We invite others in the industry to join us and follow our comprehensive approach to help the entire online world safer for children and teens.”
Roblox has been updating and adding new safety features to its platform over the past year. Its most recent addition was rolling out a “sensitive issues” content tag to its experiences feature.
In November 2024, it introduced protections that meant under 13s were no longer able to access direct messaging on platform chats, and limited what messages they could broadcast in games and experiences.
