Roblox gates major feature behind voluntary age verification

In an attempt to establish a new industry standard, Roblox will be the first online gaming platform to require facial age verification checks for all users to access chat.

By implementing an obligatory age verification scan for all its gamers, Roblox intends to unlock chat and age-appropriate experiences. Once the age check is complete, users will only be allowed to chat with others in similar age groups.

Roblox claims that its Facial Age Estimation process is fast and secure, and is completed through the Roblox app using the device’s camera. Images and videos captured during the process are collected by a third-party vendor, Persona, and immediately deleted after processing.

Gamers who don’t want to complete an age check through Facial Age Estimation can complete it via ID verification. This option requires users to send a scanned copy of their ID to Roblox, along with a selfie.

Age checks are completely optional. However, users who don’t complete the age check process won’t be able to use Roblox’s chat feature.

“Roblox deploying this privacy-preserving implementation of thoughtful age assurance for its uniquely mixed audience of youth and adults will strengthen protections for younger players while respecting user rights,” says Jules Polonetsky, CEO of Future of Privacy Forum, a Washington, DC-based non-profit organization that seeks to advance responsible data practices.

A voluntary age check period will begin today. Users in Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands will need to undergo the Facial Age Estimation process during the first week of December. The rest of the world will follow in early January.

Early next year, Roblox will also require age checks to access social media links on user profiles, communities, and experience details pages.

Roblox has been under scrutiny for years for doing too little to ensure the safety of children on its platform.

There have been incidents of children confronted with games that are violent or sexual in nature. In addition, Roblox has become a playground for scammers and sexual predators to extort money from children and blackmail them.

Experts and concerned parents claim that Roblox has been ignoring child safety on its platform for too long. For that reason, the US state of Louisiana recently filed a lawsuit against Roblox.

Therefore, Roblox announced its plans to roll out age verification technology to all users back in September.