Amid lawsuits alleging child safety concerns, the online gaming service Roblox announced on Wednesday that it is expanding its age estimation technology to all users. The company is also partnering with the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) to provide age and content ratings for the games and apps on its platform.
Roblox stated that by the end of the year, the age estimation system will be rolled out to all users who access the company’s communication tools, such as voice and text-based chat. This process involves scanning users’ selfies and analyzing facial features to estimate their age. This technology is combined with other systems, including ID age verification and verified parental consent, to provide a more accurate measure of a user’s age compared to simply having them type in a birth year when creating an account. The company also notes it is planning to launch additional systems to further limit communications between adults and minors on its platform.
Meanwhile, the partnership with IARC will see Roblox replacing its own content and maturity labels with those used by rating agencies worldwide. Users in the United States will see ratings from the ESRB, while other countries will see ratings from their own authorities. For example, players in the Republic of Korea will see ratings from GRAC, players in Germany will see ratings from the USK, and players elsewhere in Europe and the United Kingdom will see ratings from PEGI. This system is designed to help parents better understand the games their children are playing based on factors that could raise concerns, such as depictions of blood, gore, violence, substances, gambling, or adult language.
These updates follow earlier moves the company announced in July designed to better protect younger users. Roblox introduced a series of safety features, including an age-verification system that analyzes users’ ages via video selfies. This information is used to prevent users younger than 13 from accessing certain features, like unfiltered voice and text chat. Roblox also prevents users aged 13 to 17 from adding users to their “trusted connections” unless they know them in real life, a connection verified through contact imports or QR code scans.
This move also comes amid the rollout of increasingly strict laws and regulations worldwide that require social platforms to verify users’ ages. Examples include the UK’s Online Safety Act and Mississippi’s age assurance law, which has already caused the social network Bluesky to stop serving users in that state. Similar laws are in various stages of development in other states, including Arizona, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Virginia.
Roblox has invested in safety features over the years. Among its tools is Roblox Sentinel, an open source AI system designed to detect early signals of child endangerment. The company also offers parental controls, tools to restrict communications, and technology that detects servers where a large number of users are breaking its rules so it can take them down.
Despite these efforts, child predators still manage to access the platform and target children, according to complaints filed by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and in other lawsuits across California, Texas, and Pennsylvania. In addition, a recent research study discovered that children on Roblox can still easily come across inappropriate content and interact with bad actors.
More recently, a popular Roblox farming simulator game, Grow a Garden, made headlines because its players began buying and selling virtual items on online marketplaces for real money, violating the platform’s rules. Parents and others raised concerns that the game was luring in children and then pushing them to spend cash to keep up with other players.
The changes to the ratings system may not put an end to all these bad experiences, but they could at least provide parents with more insight about the games their kids are playing. Roblox’s chief safety officer, Matt Kaufman, said in a statement that the company is committed to creating a safe platform and empowering parents to make the best decisions for their children. He expressed excitement about the IARC partnership and hopes it will provide parents globally with more clarity and confidence regarding age-appropriate content.