Roblox introduces new measures to improve child safety: parents will have more control
By ForGeeks Roblox Corp. which owns a video game platform popular with children, has announced new measures to strengthen user security. The changes are in response to criticism of child protection policies and arrests of alleged criminals who used the platform for abuse. Children under the age of 13 will now only be able to use certain chat features with parental permission.
Additionally, children under the age of 13 will only be able to use certain chat features with parental permission.
New rules for young users
According to a letter sent out by the company to parents, children under 9 will also need permission to access games with moderate violence or crude humor. The changes will take effect next month and are aimed at making the platform safer for the youngest users.
According to the letter sent by the company to parents, children under 9 will also need permission to access games with moderate violence or crude humor.
In addition, Roblox plans to introduce a new type of account that will allow parents to monitor children’s online activity and their friends list. A company spokesperson declined to provide further comment on the upcoming changes, but confirmed that the innovations are part of a plan to ensure safety on the platform.
Earlier in July, Roblox announced new tags for games based on content rather than age categories. This was done to help parents and users better understand the nature of the games available on the platform.
The new tags were designed to help parents and users better understand the nature of the games available on the platform.
Criticism of Roblox’s security policies has intensified in recent months. A July Bloomberg Businessweek investigation reported that at least two dozen people suspected of committing crimes against children they met on Roblox have been arrested in the U.S. since 2018. Some of these abusers were already registered sex offenders or had child abuse charges.
Some of these abusers were already registered sex offenders or had child abuse allegations.
Safety concerns and Roblox’s response
About 40% of Roblox’s 80 million daily active users are children under the age of 13. Until recently, the platform allowed children of any age to create accounts and communicate with strangers, which raised concerns among child protection activists. The new measures could help address that concern. In September, the company imposed restrictions that prohibit children under 5 from registering on the platform.
At the time, children under 5 years old were not allowed to create accounts on the platform.
After the Bloomberg investigation, analyst firm Hindenburg Research published a report claiming Roblox wasn’t doing enough to protect children from predators and accusing the company of overstating user data. Roblox called the report «misleading» and said all of the company’s financials and actions are reflected in public filings.
The report was published by Hindenburg Research.
Roblox’s head of security, Matt Kaufman, has previously rejected accusations that the platform has systemic child safety issues, emphasizing that all chats and content are moderated to prevent breaches.
Roblox’s head of security, Matt Kaufman, has denied allegations that the platform has systemic child safety issues, emphasizing that all chats and content are moderated to prevent breaches.
