Roblox steps up age checks and puts limits on younger users' access to chats

"Roblox is stepping up its age verification system for users who want to privately message other players and implementing age-based chats so kids, teens and adults will only be able to message people around their own age. The moves come as the popular gaming platform continues to face criticism and lawsuits over child safety and a growing number of states and countries are implementing age verification laws."

"The San Mateo-based company in July announced the age estimation tool, which is provided by a company called Persona. It requires players to take a video selfie that will be used to estimate their age. Roblox says the videos are deleted after the age check is processed. Users are not required to submit a face scan to use the platform, only if they want to chat with other users."

"While some experts have expressed caution about the reliability of facial age estimation tools, Matt Kaufman, chief safety officer at Roblox, said that between the ages of about 5 to 25, the system can accurately estimate a person's age within one or two years. But of course, there's always people who may be well outside of a traditional bell curve."

Roblox will require age verification for users who want to privately message other players and will place users into age-based chat groups so users can message peers by age range. The company is using an age estimation tool from Persona that asks players to take a video selfie to estimate age; the videos are deleted after processing. Face scans are optional and only required for chat. Kids under 13 cannot chat outside games without explicit parental permission. Private chats are not encrypted, allowing Roblox to monitor and moderate them. The tool is claimed to be accurate between about ages 5 and 25, with ID or parental consent available to correct estimates. Users are assigned to defined age brackets, and enforcement begins in Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands in the first week of December, with broader rollout planned.

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