Roblox commits to privacy overhaul after eSafety discovers adults can contact children via gaming platform

Roblox has committed to making changes to its online gaming platform after Australia’s eSafety commissioner discovered adults were still able to see child accounts and send connection requests without parental consent.

The company has provided a legal agreement to the online safety regulator after testing earlier this year also revealed children and adults could view and respond to one another’s posts on forums outside game environments without parental consent. Additionally, the regulator found children’s connections and profiles – including account names and interests – were visible to anyone on Roblox.

Under the changes, accounts for users under 16 were private by default and included tools to prevent adult users from contacting under-16s without parental consent. Direct chat was also switched off by default until the user had gone through age estimation.

Additionally, parental controls could disable chat for 13- to 15-year-old users, and voice chat was not allowed for the same age group, bringing up the restriction applied to users aged 12 and under.

The eSafety commissioner had raised concerns Roblox may not be compliant with codes and standards under the Online Safety Act, alleging the platform failed to have sufficient measures in place to prevent contact between adults and children. In its announcement on Thursday, eSafety said Roblox had committed to making changes to prevent adults from contacting unknown children without parental consent, and strengthening account settings of children so they are private by default.

Roblox also committed to engaging a third-party auditor to assess its safety measures, including a check of its age-estimation technology.