Roblox commits to privacy overhaul after eSafety discovers adults can contact children via gaming platform

Regulator says verifiable safety measures are ‘critical’ to the online service’s viability

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Roblox has committed to making changes to its online gaming platform after Australia’s eSafety commissioner discovered adults were still able to see child accounts and send connection requests without parental consent.

The company has provided a legal agreement to the online safety regulator after testing earlier this year also revealed children and adults could view and respond to one another’s posts on forums outside game environments without parental consent.

Additionally, the regulator found children’s connections and profiles – including account names and interests – were visible to anyone on Roblox.

In December last year, Roblox rolled out changes to its service to limit the ability for children to speak to adults on the platform, following reports of children being groomed both for child abuse and extremism, as well as being exposed to inappropriate or violent content .

Under the changes, accounts for users under 16 were private by default and included tools to prevent adult users from contacting under-16s without parental consent.

Direct chat was also switched off by default until the user had gone through age estimation.

Parental controls could disable chat for 13- to 15-year-old users, and voice chat was not allowed for the same age group – bringing up the restriction applied to users aged 12 and under.

The eSafety commissioner had raised concerns Roblox may not be compliant with codes and standards under the Online Safety Act, alleging the platform failed to have sufficient measures in place to prevent contact between adults and children.

A Roblox spokesperson said there had been “constructive dialogue with eSafety” and the company had delivered on its safety commitments to eSafety in the past year while continuing to work towards keeping children safe online.

In its announcement on Thursday, eSafety said Roblox had committed to making changes to prevent adults from contacting unknown children without parental consent, and strengthening account settings of children so they are private by default.

Roblox also committed to engaging a third-party auditor to assess its safety measures, including a check of its age-estimation technology.

The company will have three months to make the changes. The eSafety commissioner has warned Roblox the regulator may apply to the federal court for an order to comply if the undertaking is breached.

About 1.7 million Australian children use Roblox, the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, said in a statement, and the pressure on the company was about ensuring Roblox is a safe place.

“We have been engaging with Roblox for some time at senior levels about our concerns and the company has responded, making a number of improvements to its service,” she said.

“Their executives clearly understand that verifiable safety measures are critical to their long-term viability and success.”

The third-party auditing would ensure Roblox can’t “mark their own homework”, Inman Grant said.

Roblox was excluded from Australia’s under-16s social media ban last year, as platforms that have the dominant purpose of gaming are not covered. Inman Grant, however, did not rule out including the platform if it was later determined its social features were its dominant purpose.