Roblox Corporation has announced changes to its child safety policies that will affect how tween users can interact with its popular gaming platform. The move follows persistent accusations that the company routinely fails to protect its predominantly young player base and, more recently, a damning report calling Roblox an “X-rated pedophile hellhole” that exposes children to “grooming, pornography, violent content and extremely abusive speech.” “.
In both cases, Roblox responded to the allegations, calling Hindenberg Research's report “simply misleading” and insisting that the Agency article contained “blatant mischaracterizations.” But despite Roblox's constant protests, the company has announced numerous changes to its child safety policies.
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As The Verge reported, Roblox sent an email to parents this week announcing that children under 13 will soon need parental permission to access “chat features” by default, while children under nine will need additional permission to play experiences with a content maturity rating of “moderate,” which may include “moderate violence or crude humor.” Roblox says these restrictions will automatically be removed as users reach certain age milestones, assuming parents and users haven't made changes manually.
Additionally, Roblox will be introducing a new type of account for parents next month that, when linked to their child's account, will allow them to update parental controllers from their own device and get information about their child's online activity and friends. . The company calls these changes, which follow updated guidelines introduced in July that require creators to label in-game experiences based on content types rather than age, part of its “commitment to making the platform one of the most safer online for our users, particularly younger users.
Roblox has long been a controversial presence in gaming, as exemplified by People Make Games' accusation in 2021 that Roblox is “exploiting” young developers on the platform, with many of those developers being under 18. years. And Roblox CEO Stefano Corazza surprised earlier this year after telling Eurogamer that the company had “hired some teenagers who had millions of players,” following up with the suggestion that kids who make money on the platform is not exploitation, it is a “gift”. A Roblox spokesperson later contacted Eurogamer to emphasize that the company does not hire minors, despite Corazza's claims.