Roblox will roll out selfie-based “facial age estimation technology” as a mandatory requirement for all of its players, as part of efforts to “limit communications” between minors and adults they don’t know.
The corporation behind the massive game filled with smaller games, many of which are made by young people, say they aim to bring in this measure by the end of 2025. The news is part of a “long-term” vision for child safety in the wake of the US state of Louisiana’s lawsuit against Roblox Corporation over child safety concerns, with Louisiana attorney general Liz Murrill accusing the game of being a “overrun with harmful content and child predators”.
Roblox chief safety officer Matt Kaufman wrote in an announcement spotted by PC Gamer that this age estimation tech will be deployed to everyone who uses the game’s built-in communications systems, and will work alongside the likes of ID age verification and parental consent to “provide a more accurate measure of a user’s age than simply relying on what someone types in when they create an account.” On top of that, they promise “new systems” to limit minors’ interactions with adult strangers.
“We’re taking this step as part of our long-term vision as a platform for all ages,” Kaufman added. “We expect that our approach to communication safety will become best practice for other online platforms, whether lawmakers pass laws requiring age verification for all platforms in the future or not.”
Roblox’s facial age estimation works by “analysing a selfie of your face and examining your facial features”, at which point the user’s assigned to one of three groups, under 13, over 13, and over 18. The experience the game offers changes based on which bucket folks land in, and “certain personal data, including your email and phone number, will be removed from Roblox” for those flagged as under 13 years old.
So, it’s a slightly more in-depth iteration of the photo-based age checks you may well have had to do as part of the measures many sites and services have launched in response to the UK’s Online Safety Act, with the likes of credit card and ID checks often being the alternatives. These checks haven’t proven to be totally bulletproof (hello, Norman Reedus’ Death Stranding mug).
In addition to the legal action from Louisiana, Roblox has also faced child safety criticism from politicians like Democrat Ro Khanna. This isn’t the first time the game has made headlines for mistreatment of children, with accusations of exploiting game creators who’re often just kids or teenagers also having been lobbied at it.
Those behind Roblox have annoucned other steps recently to protect kids who are hopping in for a bit of Grow a Garden. That’s included cracking down on “vigilantes” who were impersonating minors in an alleged effort to catch adults behaving inappropriately, something the game’s overseers argued was only confusing matters.