Roblox defends expanded age‑checks after parents raise concerns over errors

Roblox is facing a backlash from parents over its expanded age-verification system, which some say misclassifies children as adults and strips away vital parental controls. The gaming giant, boasting 144 million daily users worldwide, is rolling out age-specific accounts known as Roblox Kids and Roblox Select, relying heavily on facial analysis technology to determine what content users can access and who they can communicate with. In an interview with BBC News, Roblox's chief safety officer Matt Kaufman defended the technology, revealing it is now used by more than half of the platform's daily users, amounting to tens of millions of people globally. He claimed the system typically estimates age "within about 1.4 years, plus or minus" for those under 18. While Roblox has not published data showing how often children are incorrectly classified as older users, Kaufman argued the technology is far more reliable than simply asking users to state their age. "When you ask them that simple question," he said, "users are going to tell you whatever they want to tell you in order to get access." The new framework builds on existing chat restrictions by introducing distinct account tiers. Roblox Kids, aimed at younger children, features a simplified interface with no communication tools and access only to a curated set of games. Roblox Select, designed for users aged nine to 15, permits limited communication and a broader but still restricted content library. Under the new rules, users who refuse to complete an age check will be entirely barred from communicating and restricted to children's content. To decide which experiences are made available to under-16s, Kaufman said Roblox uses a range of signals, including how long a game has been on the platform and the usage patterns of its creators. The company relies on more than two million developers to create content, and games with social or free-form elements will not be default-available on the Kids and Select accounts. When one developer told the BBC that parents should constantly monitor their children on the platform due to safety fears, Kaufman pushed back, stating it was "irresponsible to choose one of those two million and have their opinion dictate how everybody feels about the platform." Despite these safeguards, parents report that correcting age-estimation errors can be a stressful and difficult process. Kaufman acknowledged that mistakes can occur but suggested many complaints stem from parents completing checks on their children's behalf or misunderstanding the process. Roblox maintains that parents can reset checks, submit appeals, or use ID verification to fix errors, and users may be prompted to re-verify if their behavior appears inconsistent with their estimated age. Moving forward, parents will also be given the ability to block games and manage direct messages until a child turns 16. The expansion arrives just days after the mother of a 14-year-old girl who was groomed into sharing sexually explicit images with an adult on the platform publicly stated that Roblox was not doing enough to protect children. Prof Sonia Livingstone of the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics told the BBC that Roblox's response was "encouraging". However, she also warned of "mounting evidence its platform continues to pose real risks to children's safety". She emphasized that "Parents deserve independent confirmation that the moderation is sufficient, that help systems are effective, and that age checks aren't used for commercial profiling." The changes are unfolding amid increasing global regulatory pressure on tech firms to protect minors online. In the UK, platforms are facing new duties under the Online Safety Act, which saw its child protection elements come into force in 2025. Kaufman acknowledged that Roblox's massive popularity means it must operate under intense scrutiny. "Because we're the biggest online gaming platform in the world, it makes sense that there's a lot of attention on us," he said, reiterating he felt the platform was "going above and beyond what any other gaming platform is doing."