Roblox Implements Mandatory Age Verification For All Chat Features

In a significant policy shift, ROBLOX has made age verification mandatory for all users who wish to access its chat features. This new requirement is designed to create a safer environment by limiting communications between minors and adults and ensuring discussions are age-appropriate. The rollout began in the U.S. and will extend globally over the next week to all regions where chat is available. The platform is the first of its size to implement such a requirement for all users.

To use features like in-experience chat, voice chat, and party chat, users must now complete an age check, as detailed on the official Roblox website. This can be done through a facial age estimation process, which uses the device's camera, or for users 13 and older, through government-issued ID verification. The company assures that the process is private and secure, with images and videos being deleted immediately after the age estimation is complete. While the age check is optional, access to communication features is contingent upon its completion. Once verified, users are placed into one of six age groups: under 9, 9–12, 13–15, 16–17, 18–20, and 21+. By default, users can chat with others in their own age bracket and those immediately adjacent. For the youngest users, those under nine, chat is disabled by default and requires parental consent to be activated after an age check.

This new policy arrives against a backdrop of heightened scrutiny over the platform's safety measures. Roblox, with approximately 150 million daily active users, a large portion of whom are children, has faced lawsuits from three U.S. states and over 20 federal cases alleging it has not done enough to protect minors from exploitation. The concerns were amplified after a recent interview on a tech podcast where Roblox CEO David Baszucki’s description of online predation as “an opportunity” was met with criticism.

"It's one of the primary things we're doing is trying to keep people on our platform… we're always trying to stay ahead of it.”— David Baszucki

During the interview, Baszucki emphasized the company's investment in AI-driven tools as proof of its commitment to safety, a point he has reiterated in other appearances. He positioned the new age verification system as a "gold standard for safety" that will allow the platform to better connect people in similar age groups while limiting interaction between children and adults. The company states it has shipped over 100 safety innovations in the last year alone and that all chat on the platform is monitored by AI algorithms. The phased rollout of the mandatory age check began in select markets in December, where over half of daily active users have already completed the process.

The ROBLOX's safety drama story escalated after a tense CEO interview pushed long-simmering doubts about the platform’s safety culture into full view. With about 150 million daily users, many of them children, the company faces lawsuits from multiple states and federal courts over allegations of failing to protect minors. Despite these challenges and reports of thousands of child exploitation instances, Roblox has been rolling out AI-driven safety tools as its solution.