Roblox is introducing new age verification tools in Australia as the gaming platform pushes back on suggestions that the upcoming under-16s social media ban should apply to its services. The company confirmed Roblox remains open and active, and has chosen Australia as the first country to receive the new safety features.
From today, users can volunteer to have their age estimated within the Roblox app through Persona, a built-in age estimation tool that uses the device camera to determine a user’s approximate age. The company said the technology reviews facial features to produce a live estimate.
The new system will become mandatory in Australia, the Netherlands and New Zealand in the first week of December. It will then expand globally in early January. Once the age check is complete, Roblox will place each user into one of six groups. The brackets include under 9, 9 to 12, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, 18 to 20 and 21 plus. Messaging will be limited to peers within similar groups to prevent young users from chatting to adults they do not know.
New Safety Settings For Australian Users
The move follows extended discussions with the Australian eSafety commissioner. The commissioner highlighted the need for stronger protections after investigations revealed repeated incidents of virtual harassment involving young profiles on the platform.
The regulator has been under pressure to include Roblox in the forthcoming national social media restrictions for under-16s, set to begin on 10 December. Gaming platforms currently have an exemption, although the commissioner has considered whether Roblox’s chat function could bring it closer to a traditional social media service.
Persona, the technology Roblox uses for age checks, has already been part of an Australian trial. The test showed a high false positive rate for 14 and 15-year-olds. Despite this, Roblox’s chief safety officer Matt Kaufman, said the system is accurate within one to two years in most cases. He added that users can dispute an age ruling through government ID or parental controls. Roblox confirmed that ID images are stored for 30 days to detect fraud before being deleted.
Roblox Says The Platform Is Not Social Media
Asked whether the new safety measures were designed to avoid being included in the national ban, Kaufman said the company has maintained a constructive dialogue with regulators. He positioned Roblox as an immersive gaming platform rather than a social network.
“I like to think of it as games being scaffolding for social interaction. Sometimes it doesn’t matter what the game is. What really matters is you’re bringing people together to spend time together.”
He added that social media involves posting content into a feed and creating a popularity cycle. “Roblox is two friends coming home after school and playing a game together. That is not social media. And so we do not believe that the social media laws within Australia apply to Roblox.”
People who choose not to complete age verification can still access the platform. They simply will not be able to use chat features. Roblox currently attracts more than 150 million daily players worldwide, with two-thirds of its users aged over 13.
