Roblox Agrees to Boost Child Safety
After Australian regulator tests found adults could contact kids without parental consent, Roblox will make changes to prevent this within three months
Roblox has agreed to boost child safety on its platform after tests by the Australian eSafety commissioner found that adults could still contact children without parental consent. The company has committed to making changes to prevent this and strengthen account settings for children.
About 1.7 million Australian children use Roblox, and the eSafety commissioner had raised concerns that the platform may not be compliant with codes and standards under the Online Safety Act. The regulator discovered that adults were still able to see child accounts and send connection requests without parental consent.
Roblox has provided a legal agreement to the online safety regulator and will have three months to make the changes. The company will engage a third-party auditor to assess its safety measures, including a check of its age-estimation technology.
## What changed The Australian eSafety commissioner's tests earlier this year also revealed that children and adults could view and respond to one another’s posts on forums outside game environments without parental consent. Additionally, the regulator found that children’s connections and profiles – including account names and interests – were visible to anyone on Roblox.
## Why it matters The changes are crucial in ensuring the safety of children on the platform. The eSafety commissioner has warned Roblox that the regulator may apply to the federal court for an order to comply if the undertaking is breached. This highlights the importance of Roblox's commitment to making changes to prevent adults from contacting unknown children without parental consent.
In the past, Roblox has rolled out changes to its service to limit the ability for children to speak to adults on the platform, following reports of children being groomed for child abuse and extremism, as well as being exposed to inappropriate or violent content. The company's latest commitment to boost child safety is a step in the right direction, but the regulator will be closely monitoring the implementation of these changes.
