Chatting on Roblox will soon require age estimation

The gaming platform Roblox will begin using age estimation technology for users who want to chat, according to the company's announcement Tuesday. 

The measure, which rolls out in phases through January, is Roblox's latest step toward improving safety features for young users. The platform has more than 151 million daily average users, one-third of whom are younger than 13. 

Roblox says the new policy positions the company as the first online gaming and communications platform to make chat accessible following a facial age check, calling the move "a new industry benchmark for safety." 

Like many digital platforms, Roblox has been under increasing pressure from child safety advocates and the parents of alleged victims to better protect minors from child predation, among other harms. The Dolman Law Group has filed 30 complaints against the company for allegedly exposing minors to sexual exploitation and abuse. Other lawsuits against Roblox, including one filed recently by the Texas state attorney general, make similar claims. 

Predators have identified minors on Roblox and cultivated relationships with them via chat and messaging, sometimes encouraging them to leave the platform for other communications apps, like Discord. 

Starting Tuesday, Roblox age estimation will be voluntary. It will become mandatory globally in January 2026. However, the platform will initially require it in Australia, New Zealand, and The Netherlands beginning in December. 

Age estimation takes place on the Roblox app, but is completed by the company Persona. The technology uses video and still imagery to estimate a user's age. Roblox says those images will be deleted immediately after processing, and will not be stored. 

Roblox hopes the approach will protect user privacy. A recent security breach of a Discord vendor may have compromised the government IDs of about 70,000 users, raising fresh questions about how to verify age while still protecting user data and personal information. 

Roblox must also account for bad actors who try to use fake photos or pictures of another person to evade accurate age estimation. Kaufman said that the combination of video and still imaging helps prevent that. Additionally, the company will deploy fraud checks.  

Once a user's age is estimated, Roblox will assign them to one of six age groups: under 9; 9 to 12 years old; 13 to 15 years old; 16 to 17 years old; 18 to 20 years old; and 21 and over. Users can then chat with members in their same age group or a similar range. While a 12 year old could chat with a user that's 9, for example, they will not be able to communicate with users in the 18- to 20-year-old group. If a user wants to appeal their grouping, they can submit ID verification. 

Matt Kaufman, chief safety officer for Roblox, said in a press briefing that the age estimation technology is "very accurate." Third-party testing of Persona found it has a mean absolute error rate of 1.37 years. 

Roblox recently started requiring age estimation for users who want to take advantage of a new feature called "Trusted Connections." The feature allows teens between the ages of 13 and 17 to communicate via voice and chat without filters. Roblox continues to monitor all conversations for "critical harm," such as grooming.

"Proactive tools like age estimation are key to building a safer and more positive digital world for kids and teens," Stephen Balkam, CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute, said in a statement about Roblox's age estimation efforts. 

On Tuesday morning, the nonprofit advocacy group ParentsTogether Action planned to hold a virtual protest on the platform, at a custom-designed Roblox headquarters, where participants in the form of non-playable characters will carry signs. Protesters will deliver a digital petition with over 12,000 signatures calling on Roblox to implement more safety features, like defaulting all children under 18 to maximum privacy settings. 

The petition implores the company to fundamentally change its approach to child safety, declaring: "Roblox must stop being a playground for predators."