Roblox to introduce age verification checks following child safety concerns

The popular gaming platform Roblox is set to introduce age verification checks, following concerns around child safety.

Users will soon have to verify their age by providing identification or using an artificial intelligence age estimation tool.

The move comes days after ITV News reported that teenagers were exposed to multiple examples of extremist content on the platform.

It also follows a string of lawsuits and other claims that it has enabled sexual predators to connect with and abuse children.

Roblox is a platform where users can create and play online games and interact with each other.

Unlike many other online platforms, Roblox allows users under the age of 13.

Roblox already has some policies and features in place meant to protect young users; for example, it offers parental controls, blocks the sharing of photos and personal information, and uses human and AI text and voice moderation.

It also requires users to verify their age in order to access certain “18+” experiences, such as games with heavy violence or crude humour.

But speaking to reporters on Tuesday, representatives said the update is expected to greatly increase the number of users verifying their age on the platform.

“Our priority is safety and civility,” Roblox Chief Safety Officer, Matt Kaufman, said.

“We want to make Roblox a safe, positive, age-appropriate experience for everybody. We set extremely high standards for ourselves, and we understand that the public expects the same from us.”

Under the new policy, all users will be required to verify their age before accessing chat features on Roblox.

If users choose not to upload an ID, they’ll have to photograph their faces so AI can estimate their age, using technology from identity verification firm Persona.

The tool uses the front camera on a user’s device and prompts them to move their face in specific directions, in an effort to ensure a real person is doing the verification.

The AI will place users in an estimated age range — under 9, 9-12, 13-15, 16-17, 18-20 or 21+ — and they’ll only be allowed to chat with other users in or near that range.

A user estimated to be 12 years old, for example, would be able to chat with users ages 15 and younger but not 16 and older, according to Roblox.

If the AI places someone into the wrong age group, users over 13 can upload an ID to correct their age.

Parents whose accounts are linked to their child’s via Roblox’s parental control tools can also correct their child’s age.

Roblox says the images of users’ faces will be used only for age estimation, and they’ll be deleted after users are placed in an age bucket.

“We see these changes as a way to help ensure users are able to socialise with others in age groups that are appropriate but also help limit contact between minors and adults that they do not know,” Rajiv Bhatia, Roblox vice president and head of user and discovery product, said.

Roblox declined to share a specific accuracy rate for its AI age estimation technology, however Kaufman said it is “typically pretty accurate within one or two years” for users between 5 and 25 years old.

Some users have found workarounds for face scan age estimation technology on other platforms, such as by using images of video game characters or selfies of other people.

But Kaufman said Roblox’s technology has “fairly robust fraud checks in place” to determine whether the person is “live” and “moving around and following instructions”.

He added that the system also looks for other anomalies, like people trying to “repeat use the same face over and over”.

Roblox will roll out age verification on a voluntary basis starting from Tuesday.

It will become compulsory in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands in December, and globally in early 2026.