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Roblox to Require Facial Age Checks for Private Chat, With Global Enforcement in January

The policy responds to child-safety scrutiny by limiting private messaging to verified, age-based groups.

Overview

  • Rollout begins with enforcement in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands in the first week of December before expanding worldwide in early January.
  • Users who want to chat must complete a video selfie age check run by vendor Persona, with Roblox saying the footage is deleted after processing.
  • Verified players are placed into six cohorts—under 9, 9–12, 13–15, 16–17, 18–20 and 21+—and can message only their own or designated adjacent groups.
  • Roblox’s safety chief says the tool estimates ages within one to two years for people roughly 5 to 25, with options to correct results through ID or parental consent.
  • The company cites efforts to curb adult–minor contact as it faces child-safety lawsuits from state attorneys general and notes private chats are not end-to-end encrypted to allow moderation.