“Roblox deploying this privacy preserving implementation of thoughtful age assurance for its uniquely mixed audience of youth and adults will strengthen protections for younger players while respecting user rights," said Jules Polonetsky, CEO, Future of Privacy Forum.
Parents will continue to have access to their child’s linked account and can modify their child's birthday through Parental Controls after they complete Facial Age Estimation. For more details on how to age check, visit our Help Center.
Enforcing age checks allows us to implement age-based chat, which helps users better understand who they’re communicating with and limits chat between minors and adults. Facial Age Estimation technology makes this possible at scale. To keep our youngest users safe, chat in experiences will be turned to default off for users under nine years old, unless a parent provides consent after an age check. Chat outside of experiences remains restricted for users under 13.
As part of our ongoing consultations with child development experts, we've defined common-sense limits on who can chat together on Roblox. After users complete the age check process, we will inform them of their assigned age group: Under 9, 9-12, 13-15, 16-17, 18-20, or 21+. Users will be able to chat with those in their own age group and similar age groups, as appropriate.
For example:
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Elisa (estimated age 12): Elisa has access to chat with users aged 15 or younger in Experience chat. All users 16 or older are prevented from initiating or engaging in chat with her.
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Marcus (estimated age 18): Marcus has access to chat with users aged 16 or older and could add a younger sibling as a Trusted Connection, as long as they are 13 or older.
We recognize the importance of family members playing, learning, and communicating directly with their child on Roblox. Through Trusted Connections, age-checked users 13 or older can chat freely with people they know. We'll soon roll out dedicated solutions for direct chat between parents and children younger than 13 or between siblings in different age groups.