Roblox to scan users’ faces to verify age amid child safety concerns

Roblox, a popular gaming platform facing growing scrutiny over child safety concerns, said on Tuesday it will require users to verify their age if they want to chat with other players.

To do this, people will provide an ID through the Roblox app or take a selfie to prove they are as young or old as they say they are. The authentication feature estimates a person’s age, allowing the company to limit conversations between children and adults.

Roblox, which is used by more than 151 million people every day, said it was the first online gaming or communication platform that needed it. The move comes as the San Mateo-based company faces a growing number of lawsuits alleging that Roblox has not done enough to protect children from pedophiles and sexual content.

Roblox said that after people verify their age, users will only be able to chat with others who are in the same age group unless they verify that they already know another player. Users under the age of 9 will have chat features turned off by default, unless a parent provides approval after age verification to use these tools.

“This initiative is designed to provide an even age-appropriate experience for all users, which we believe will improve interactions for users of all ages on Roblox,” a company executive said in a blog post about the new requirement.

Online gaming is a popular way for children and teenagers to socialize. In Roblox, users create or play games in virtual spaces and chat with others. Some popular games on the platform include exploring virtual towns, growing digital crops and taking care of virtual animals.

But players also use avatars and usernames to represent themselves online, making it difficult to tell a player’s age.

Some lawsuits against Roblox allege that predators impersonate children and convince minors to post sexually explicit images of themselves on the platform.

Age verification of people has been an ongoing issue on various online platforms as child safety concerns grow. But tech companies like Meta, Google and Apple have disputed whether app stores or the platforms themselves should track users’ ages.

When people sign up for Roblox, like other platforms, they provide their date of birth, but it’s easy to lie about someone’s age. Asking people to change their government ID or their face photo, however, comes with privacy concerns and increases the barrier to using certain online features.

Roblox said it is working with San Francisco identity verification company Persona, which processes images and videos of people’s faces. It said that the data from the scan will be deleted immediately after. The gaming platform said that verifying your age is optional but users will not be able to access chat features unless they do so.

In the first week of December, the company will start implementing this requirement in some countries, including Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands. Then, in early January, the need will extend to other worlds where Roblox chat features are available.