Roblox commits to privacy overhauls after eSafety violations were discovered.
After years of concern over Roblox’s safety measures, the creators finally agreed to make changes to its online gaming platform after Australia’s eSafety Commissioner found adults could access children‘s accounts and send connection requests without parental consent.
The company has provided a legal undertaking to the regulator after testing also found children and adults could view and respond to each other‘s posts on forums outside games.
The eSafety Commissioner said children’s profiles, including account names and interests, were also visible to anyone using Roblox.
Robloxintroduced several child-safety measures last December following reports of children being groomed for abuse and extremism, as well as exposure to inappropriate and violent content.
Under the changes, accounts belonging to users under 16 were made private by default, with tools designed to prevent adults from contacting children without parental consent.
Direct messaging was also disabled by default until users completed age estimation. Parents could disable chat for children aged 13 to 15, while voice chat was unavailable to that age group.
However, the eSafety Commissioner raised concerns that Robloxwas not complying with Australia’s Online Safety Act, arguing the platform had failed to put sufficient measures in place to prevent contact between adults and children.
Robloxhas now committed to preventing adults from contacting unknown children without parental consent and strengthening privacy settings so children’s accounts are private by default.
It will also appoint an independent third-party auditor to assess its safety measures, including its age-estimation technology.
The company has three months to implement the changes.
If it fails to meet the terms of the agreement, the eSafety Commissioner could seek an order from the federal court requiring Roblox to comply.
Around 1.7 million Australian children use Roblox, according to eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant.
She said: “We have been engaging with Robloxfor some time at senior levels about our concerns and the company has responded, making a number of improvements to its service.”
Grant said independent auditing would ensure Robloxcould not “mark their own homework”.
A Robloxspokesperson said the company had held “constructive dialogue with eSafety” and had delivered on safety commitments made over the past year.
Robloxwas excluded from Australia’s under-16 social media ban because platforms primarily focused on gaming are not covered.
Grant said this could change if Roblox’ssocial features were later judged to be its dominant purpose.
