Further to the voluntary age checks rolled out to “limit communication between minors and adults” back in November, Roblox has began its “global enforcement” of requiring users to verify their age before they can access chat.
Users in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands are already “required” to complete an age check to chat with other users, but the requirement will now roll out to “all regions where chat is available,” including the US. It’s not clear how – or if – age-checked users will be able to chat with unverified users in the interim.
Roblox claims that with this change, “Roblox becomes the first large online gaming platform to require age checks for users of all ages to access chat,” adding: “This marks an important investment in user safety and enables age-appropriate communication and limits conversations between adults and minors.”
Once users complete an age check, they are assigned to one of six age groups (those aged under 7, 9-12, 13-15, 15-17, 18-20, and 21+) and, by default, can only communicate with players directly above and/or below their own tier. For example, a nine-year-old cannot chat with anyone older than 13, and a 16-year-old can chat with users ages 13-20.
Roblox says that it will also “constantly evaluate user behavior” to determine if someone is acting significantly older or younger than expected and anyone deemed to be in the wrong tier will be required to repeat the age-check process.
So far, over 50% of daily active users in the countries listed above have verified their ages in the app’s “private, fast, and secure” age-check process through Persona, which deletes any personal images or data “immediately after processing.”
Though the age check is voluntary, players cannot access the chat function without it.
“Our commitment to safety is rooted in delivering the highest level of protection for our users,” said Matt Kaufman, Roblox’s chief safety officer. “By building proactive, age-based barriers, we can empower users to create and connect in ways that are both safe and appropriate.”
Roblox has been updating and adding new safety features to its platform over the past year, including appending 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.
