Roblox Rolls Out Restricted Accounts For Under-16 Users Amid Lawsuit, Social Media Ban

Authored by Rex Widerstrom via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

While managing to avoid Australia’s under-16 social media ban, the global game creation platform Roblox has moved to introduce restricted accounts for children and teenagers.

The move also comes in the wake of a lawsuit from Los Angeles County alleging it does not carry out adequate moderation and that its age-verification systems are not fit for purpose.

The suit claims that, as a result, young people were exposed to sexual content, exploitation, and online predators while playing the game.

It joined more than 60 other actions brought by players or their parents, the majority from families in the United States.

Roblox founder and CEO, David Baszucki, announced the changes online, saying an update to the platform will bring age checks, account-level defaults, content ratings, ongoing moderation, and expanded parental controls together into a “unified framework for younger users.”

“Based on our selection criteria, we believe age-checked users under 16 will have access to the vast majority of their favourite games at launch. Age-checked users 16 and older will not see any change to their Roblox experience,” Baszucki said.

With over 151 million active players every day, Roblox has become one of the most popular online platforms ever.

Users will now be sorted into one of three groups: Kids’ accounts (ages 5 to 8), Select accounts (ages 9 to 15) and those aged 16 and above, who will have access to the standard Roblox account.

Users between the ages of five and eight will be assigned to a Kid’s account by the platform’s systems, either based on a verified parent or its worldwide age-check technology, which includes facial recognition. They will be limited to games with a “minimal” or “mild” content maturity label, and communication will be disabled by default.

Roblox Select accounts will be able to access games with content maturity labels up to and including “moderate” and chat room functions will be gradually introduced with safeguards, allowing them to chat with family and friends or those that are a similar age.

Each of the two new levels will have a distinct background colour across the app to indicate the account type.

Roblox Chief Safety Officer Matt Kaufman told GamesBeat that there should be coordination between platforms.

“There has to be some coordination, some minimum bar we expect all companies to clear when you involve kids and teens. The reality is, they’re just jumping from platform to platform. That’s normal. I have two kids who have grown up online. It’s just what they do.”

Despite the action against it in the United States, Roblox was not among the platforms Australia’s eSafety Commissioner said she would be investigating for potential non-compliance with Australia’s social media ban.

Those were Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube, all of which are currently restricted platforms under the law, which has now been in place for 4 months.

Government Welcomes Changes

Meanwhile, Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells welcomed the Roblox announcement. She has previously met with representatives of the platform and expressed concerns over graphic content and reports of grooming.

“We made it clear to Roblox that something had to be done,” she told journalists, “and I welcome these steps towards stronger safety measures on their platform for under-16s, not just in Australia, but globally. Kids should be able to play their favourite games without being exposed to harmful content.

“We will closely watch the rollout of Roblox’s changes to make sure they create a meaningful difference to the experience of young Australians on their platforms.”

She dismissed concerns that young people have continued to circumvent the restrictions—including by reportedly drawing on facial hair—saying it’s no surprise.

“There isn’t 100 percent effectiveness for the law against murdering people in this country; people still murder [yet] no one is making an argument that we shouldn’t have a law against murdering people in this country,” she said.

“We’ve always said cultural change takes time, and we will not get a 100 percent strike rate, or anything like it, for any amount of time shortly after the ban comes in.

“The law is important because it sets a cultural standard.”