Roblox Takes a Step Towards Safeguarding Young Users

The move comes as a response to growing concerns about child safety online, following a wave of lawsuits against the company.

Roblox, a popular online gaming platform, is introducing new account types designed to give kids and younger teens age-appropriate access to chat and games. The move comes as a response to growing concerns about child safety online, following a wave of lawsuits against the company.

The new accounts will be rolled out globally at the beginning of June, giving users a transition period to go through the age-check process. The accounts will be categorized into three types: Roblox Kids, Roblox Select, and standard Roblox accounts.

• Roblox Kids accounts will be assigned to users aged five to nine and will have access to games with "Minimal" or "Mild" ratings, which refer to content with occasional mild violence, mild crude humor, and occasional mild fear.
• Roblox Select accounts will be assigned to users aged nine to 15 and will have access to games rated up to "Moderate" and will be able to chat with users in a similar age group.
• Standard Roblox accounts will be assigned to users aged 16 and up and will have access to all games, including "Restricted Content," which includes strong violence, romantic themes, strong language, and more.

The new accounts are designed to give parents more control over their children's online activities. Parents will have the option to approve specific games for their children that aren't available under their account's default restrictions.

Developers will also need to meet certain eligibility requirements, including having a Roblox Plus subscription, which will unlock exclusive benefits, discounts on in-game items and avatars, and more. The company's current subscription, Roblox Premium, will no longer accept new sign-ups once Roblox Plus launches on April 30.

Roblox will use its multimodal moderation system to evaluate whether games break its rules and will conduct a real-time evaluation of the games with users aged 16 and older, who will play the games first and submit feedback and reports.

The company's recent changes follow several lawsuits, including ones from the attorneys general of Louisiana and Texas, against Roblox over child safety concerns. The lawsuits were filed following reports that Roblox was exposing young users to dangerous risks, such as grooming and explicit content.

By introducing age-appropriate accounts, Roblox is taking a step towards safeguarding young users and addressing the growing concerns about child safety online.