Roblox is introducing new safety features for children’s accounts in response to a report alleging child exploitation on the platform. These changes aim to provide parents with more control and oversight over their children’s online activities within the Roblox environment.
According to IGN, Roblox has emailed parents outlining the updates. A key change involves linking parent and child accounts. This connection enables parents to monitor their child’s usage, view their friends list, and adjust parental control settings. Previously, parents could secure a child’s account with a PIN. This system is being replaced with mandatory parent accounts, offering a more robust barrier against unauthorized setting changes by minors.
Roblox is also adjusting default settings based on age. Users under 13 will require parental consent for certain chat functions. Those under 9 will need permission to access content rated “Moderate” or higher. This aligns with the new “Party” feature, enabling text and voice chat within friend groups, but restricted to users 13 and older.
Roblox’s email emphasized its ongoing commitment to safety: “Since day one, Roblox has been committed to building safety features and tools into the design of our products. We will always continue to explore different ways to update our parental controls to make them even more useful for parents.”
Earlier this month, Hindenburg Research released a report accusing Roblox of inflating daily active user statistics and engagement figures by disregarding bots and secondary accounts. The report also highlighted alleged child abuse on the platform, claiming, “Roblox is compromising child safety in order to report growth to investors. Beyond inflated key user metrics, our in-game research revealed an X-rated pedophile hellscape, exposing children to grooming, pornography, violent content and extremely abusive speech.”
A person looking at the Roblox mobile app on their phone.
Roblox refuted these allegations, labeling them “misleading” and asserting that it takes “any content or behavior on the platform that doesn’t abide by its standards extremely seriously.” However, these claims follow previous reports, including a Bloomberg interview with Roblox employees who expressed concerns about child safety on the platform, and several lawsuits alleging inadequate child safety measures.
Roblox’s latest move to strengthen parental controls signals a response to mounting pressure regarding child safety. While the effectiveness of these measures remains to be seen, they represent a step towards addressing the serious concerns raised about the platform’s environment for young users.
