Roblox announced Friday that it will no longer allow users under 13 to message other users outside of games or experiences on the platform. Roblox also announced enhanced parental controls, as well as a set of other built-in protections for younger users, including age restrictions for certain experiences.
Roblox has been criticized for failing to protect its children and young users from online predators, and these new features appear to be an attempt to regain trust. A recent Bloomberg investigation reveals how predators can find and groom children on Roblox.
Shortly after the Bloomberg report was released, Roblox announced that it would be implementing changes to keep children safe on its platform. Now, we're officially rolling out protections to give parents more visibility and control over their children's platform usage.
The company explained in a press conference that users under the age of 13 will still have access to in-game chat because Roblox believes communication is the foundation of gameplay on the platform. Parents can change this setting if they wish.
Image credit: Roblox
Additionally, Roblox imposes age restrictions on certain experiences for users under the age of 13. This new restriction applies to games and experiences that are designed to interact with people outside of your friends list, such as experiences that allow free-form writing or drawing.
“We made this decision because we believe some of both the content and behavior in these experiences are more appropriate for older users and teams,” said Roblox User Settings and Parents. said Dina Lamdany, Product Lead. Control during press conference.
Roblox already offers some parental controls, but previously they could only be managed from a child's account. Now, the company is introducing remote management, allowing parents to adjust controls and see their child's activity from their own device. To do so, parents can link their Roblox account to their child's account after verifying their identity using an ID or credit card.
Parents can now see their child's average weekly screen time and set daily screen time limits. You can also see your child's friend list.
Image credit: Roblox
Historically, Roblox has labeled experiences by age to indicate the level of maturity of the content. Now, Roblox is launching a simplified description of the types of content available on the platform. When an experience is labeled “minimal,” that means it “may include occasional mild violence, mild unrealistic blood, and/or occasional mild scares.” Masu. The “mild” label means the experience “may include repeated episodes of mild violence, unrealistically intense gore, mild vulgar humor, and/or repeated mild horror.” Masu.
Experiences labeled as “moderate” may include “moderate violence, light realistic blood, moderate crude humor, unplayable gambling content, and/or moderate fear.” there is. A “restricted” experience may include “strong violence, heavy realistic gore, moderate crude humor, romantic themes, unplayable gambling content, presence of alcohol, strong language, and/or moderate horror.” ”
Users under 9 years of age can only access “Minimal” or “Mild” content by default, and can only access “Moderate Content” with parental consent. Parents can choose the level they think is best for their child.
Roblox's built-in protections will also be automatically removed as your child grows up and moves from one age group to another. Roblox will notify parents 30 days before a setting changes based on their child's age.
“We really aim to be safe by default for users of all ages, and our policies and features will continue to adapt to that goal,” Ramdani said. “We believe doing so is the right thing to do for children, parents, creators, investors and the company as a whole.”
The changes announced on Friday will roll out to all users this week.
This article has been updated to clarify that users under the age of 13 may not directly message other users on the platform, regardless of parental permission.