Roblox introduces new safeguards for teens, including age estimation tech

Jul 18 / Tech Crunch
Roblox announced Thursday that it’s launching new safeguards for people who are between the ages of 13 and 18. The company is introducing “Trusted Connections” to allow these users to connect more freely with people they know, alongside age estimation technology, more privacy tools, and insights for parents of teens.

Roblox has come under fire in recent years for how it handles child safety. In April, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued a subpoena to Roblox in response to reports that children were exposed to harmful material on the platform and that predatory adults were able to message minors on the app.

The changes announced Thursday are likely part of Roblox’s efforts to appease both lawmakers and parents. The teen-focused update comes eight months after Roblox launched protections for users under the age of 13.
Roblox is renaming “Friends” to “Connections” and launching “Trusted Connections” to allow teens to communicate more freely in chat and voice with people they trust. With Trusted Connections, users can chat without filters.

“Users the system determines are 13+ will get access to more expressive chat features with their Trusted Connections,” said Ryan Ebanks, senior product manager at Roblox, in a briefing with reporters. “This additional freedom reduces the incentive for teens to move interactions off platform where they may be exposed to greater risk.”

Roblox notes that conversations between Trusted Connections are proactively monitored for critical harm (e.g., grooming). Plus, parents can view who their teen is connected to as a Trusted Connection.

To unlock Trusted Connections, users need to use the platform’s new age estimation technology to verify their age by taking a selfie video; they must receive an estimation of at least 13 years old to access Trusted Connections. Roblox notes that if the system is unable to verify age with high confidence, their age will remain unconfirmed. If the user doesn’t pass the age estimation, they can confirm their age with ID verification.

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Users 13 to 17 who have their age confirmed can add each other as a Trusted Connection. Unfiltered communication between users aged 18 and above and teens is blocked unless a preexisting real-life relationship is verified via a QR code.
The company plans to use age estimation across its platform to support user access to age-appropriate features and content.

As for the new privacy tools, teens can now decide who can see if they’re online. They can set this to be visible to just their Connections, followers, no one, or everyone on Roblox. They can now also set a window during which push notifications from Roblox are silenced.

Roblox is giving parents access to a suite of tools to understand their child’s usage and presence on the platform. Parents can now view who their teen is connected to, as well as how much time their teen spends on the platform and in which games. Plus, parents can choose to be notified when their teen makes a certain transaction on Roblox.

“We know that parents are extremely busy, and so we’ve designed these to really be quick at a glance insights that parents can hopefully fit into their busy schedules,” said Dina Lamdany, senior product manager at Roblox, in the briefing.

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