Roblox to require age verification and age-based chats following lawsuits

"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 company had previously announced the age estimation tool, which is provided by a company called Persona, in July. 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."

"Roblox doesn't allow kids under 13 to chat with other users outside of games unless they have explicit parental permission-and unlike different platforms, it does not encrypt private chat conversations, so it can monitor and moderate them. 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 five to 25, the system can accurately estimate a person's age within one or two years."

Roblox will require age verification for users who want to privately message other players and introduce age-based chat tiers that limit messaging to similar-age users. The age-estimation tool from Persona uses a video selfie to estimate age; videos are deleted after processing and submission is optional, required only to enable chat. Kids under 13 cannot chat outside games without explicit parental permission, and private chats are not encrypted so Roblox can monitor and moderate conversations. Roblox says the system typically estimates ages between about five and 25 within one or two years; ID or parental consent can correct outliers. Rollout begins in select countries in early December and expands worldwide in early January.

Read at Fast Company