The Philippine government wants an integration between Roblox’s age verification and the national identity system to become the technical and policy template that Meta and other platforms follow.
Department of Information and Communications Technology Secretary Henry Aguda set out the position at the House committee on appropriations’ budget hearing for his department on Monday, answering a question about the outcome of a meeting with Meta in Singapore.
Roblox raised the idea itself. At that meeting, which included Meta Platforms and the games platform, Roblox broached using an integration of the Philippines’ national ID with its own age verification systems.
Aguda said the proposed system would work as a qualifier, establishing whether a user is old enough for a particular tier of Roblox account, rather than handing over identity records. He said there is an eVerify solution within the national ID system that could support it.
No card would be needed. Speaking in a mix of English and Filipino, Aguda said that even without a physical card, platforms can make API calls as long as a user’s digital biometrics are already held by the Philippine Statistics Authority. Those calls would let Roblox tell whether a user is getting content appropriate to their account tier.
Meta was more cautious. Aguda said the company cited technical complexities, having never carried out an integration of that kind anywhere in the world, and was concerned that the roughly 170 countries it serves would request similar accommodations.
Meta is separately changing how it operates in the United States after a settlement with US states that adds limits on how teenagers reach and use its platforms. Aguda said the company will send a technical working team to study the feasibility of what it discussed with the department.
“We are hoping that if Roblox is successful in the integration, it can become a technical and policy template for the other social media platforms to follow,” Aguda said.
The talks build on work already under way. Meta and Philippine agencies have been examining PhilSys checks for online accounts through a technical working group, under a design that returns only a match or non-match rather than exposing the underlying record.
The pattern is not confined to the Philippines. Thailand has proposed linking its national digital ID to Roblox accounts for the same purpose.
The department is seeking 19.491 billion pesos for the 2027 fiscal year.
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