Roblox Age Verification Technology To Be Implemented Amid Child Exploitation Lawsuits

About 100 million people use Roblox daily, which has become a known entry point for sexual predators, with roughly 40% of its players under the age of 13.

Facing increasing condemnation and liability over sex predators using the platform to access and abuse children, Roblox finally announced that it is putting in place new measures to identify and verify the age of users.

In a press release issued on September 3, Roblox Corporation announced the new safety measures, which are expected to be in place by the end of the year, and will include a combination of “facial age estimation,” ID age verification and verified parental consent.

Originally released in 2006, Roblox is a video game construction set that lets users build their own games, explore other player-created worlds and interact with others through in-game purchases and customizable avatars.

However, while the app is marketed as safe and family friendly, Roblox Corporation currently faces more than 300 child exploitation lawsuits brought by families who say the company failed to take adequate and reasonable steps to protect children who are using the app.

These lawsuits describe incidents ranging from children being convinced to send explicit pictures of themselves to adult sexual predators they believe to be other children, to young children being kidnapped, raped and sexually trafficked across state lines. As a result, Roblox has become known for being a first point of contact between sexual predators and children, despite assurances to parents that the app is safe.

The press release appears to confirm that Roblox had little protection in place previously, noting that the new age verification technology “will provide a more accurate measure of a user’s age than simply relying on what someone types in when they create an account.”

In addition to the age verification, Roblox announced that it intends to launch new systems in the future that will be designed to limit communication between adults and minors, unless they know each other in real life.

Roblox indicates that it hopes the new safety features will become the “best practice” for social media platforms.

“These added layers of protection will help provide users with access to developmentally appropriate features and content. We hope this move sets a standard that other gaming, social media, and communication platforms follow.”

– The Roblox Corporation

The company claims that this year alone it has launched more than 100 new safety initiatives, including AI tasked with helping detect early signs of child endangerment, as well as detection software to detect when large numbers of users are breaking the terms of service in specific servers.

The site has faced intense criticism for allowing users to host virtual worlds that include strip clubs staffed entirely by child avatars and worlds with names like “Escape to Epstein Island” and “Diddy Party.” These design features have made the app a travel destination for child sexual predators, who do not have to verify who they are, and are able to specifically target and groom children with no safeguards to prevent it.

An estimated 100 million players use Roblox every day, with about 40% of them being under the age of 13.

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