• by Colin Kirkland , November 18, 2024

In response to recent reports of child predators utilizing the chat feature on Roblox, the gaming company is no longer allowing users under the age of 13 to communicate directly outside of gameplay on the metaverse gaming platform, along with the launch of additional child-safety precautions regarding parental oversight and more.

Following “multiple rounds of internal research” -- interviews, usability studies, and international surveys with parents and kids, as well as meetings with child safety and media literacy experts -- Roblox has decided to make it easier for parents to manage their child's settings via “remote management.”

This update to the company's previous parental controls is designed to allow parental figures to adjust controls and review their child's activity from afar through linked account capability after verification via an ID or credit card.

This includes barring their child from direct messaging with other players, monitoring their child's friends list and screen-time. In fact, parents can now set daily screen-time limits on their child's account, effectively ceasing gameplay until the following day.

The company has also started to use content labels to describe in-game experiences rather than implementing age-specific ratings. For example, users under 9 can now only access “Minimal” or “Mild” content by default and can only access “Moderate” content with parental consent.

Roblox will also bar users under 13 from accessing “social hangouts,” which revolve around text and voice chat communication, as well as “free-form 2D user creation” experiences that feature the ability to draw and write in the app.

Roblox says these changes are supported by the National Association for Media Literacy Education and the Family Online Safety Institute.

These safety precautions are being introduced after Bloomberg's thorough July article, which described the platform as “an X-rated pedophile hellscape,” presenting reportage on major adult predators who took advantage of the chat features on Roblox, discovering direct access to millions of daily child users.

Despite push back from Roblox's Chief Safety Officer Matt Kaufman, Bloomberg spoke with over 20 of Kaufman's current and former employees, who said the company was inundated with far too many child-safety reports to clear each day. In other words, Roblox was losing in its battle against child predators.

In Monday's announcement, Roblox is clearly trying to right its wrongs, admitting that there is no “perfect” when it comes to online safety, but defining its overall approach as “systematic and thoughtful,” with regular policy updates to help keep children safe.