Roblox promises age checks as Australia's under-16 social media ban looms
Roblox is one of the world's most popular gaming platforms. (Reuters: Brendan McDermid)
In short:
Roblox says it will roll out verification checks in Australia and two other countries from early December.
The move is likely to coincide with the federal government's social media ban for under-16s, which commences on December 10.
The platform has not been added to the government's list of banned platforms for under-16s.
Popular gaming platform Roblox says it will launch its age verification system in three countries, including Australia, in the same month the federal government's social media ban for under 16s comes in to force.
The new system means users who want to privately message other players will need to verify their age.
Roblox also announced it would implement age-based chats so kids, teens and adults would only be able to message people around their own age.
Age checks would start being enforced in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands in the first week of December, before launching worldwide in early January.
Australia's ban on under-16s accessing popular social media platforms comes into force from December 10, but so far Roblox has not been added to the federal government's list.
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 does not 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, Roblox's chief safety office Matt Kaufman defended the technology, saying that between the ages of about five to 25, the system can accurately estimate a person's age within one or two years.
Roblox has more than 110 million users, many of them under the age of 16. (ABC News: Nicholas White )
“But of course, there’s always people who may be well outside of a traditional bell curve. And in those cases, if you disagree with the estimate that comes back, then you can provide an ID or use parental consent in order to correct that,” he said.
After users go through the age checks, they will be assigned to age groups ranging from under nine, nine to 12, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, 18 to 20 and over 21.
Users will then be able to chat with their age group or similar age groups, depending on their age and the type of chat.
A growing number of tech companies are implementing verification systems to comply with regulations or ward off criticism that they are not protecting children.
This includes Google, which recently started testing a new age-verification system for YouTube that relies on AI to differentiate between adults and minors based on their watch histories.
Instagram is testing an AI system to determine if kids are lying about their ages.
ABC/AP