- Roblox requires mandatory age verification via facial recognition or document to access the chat.
- The system segments conversations into six age groups and limits contact between adults and minors.
- The measure comes after strong criticism, investigations and lawsuits for failures in the protection of minors.
- Verification relies on the Persona provider, with image removal after the process and appeal mechanisms.
Roblox has made a significant change in how it manages communication between its users: from now on, to use the chat features, users will be required to verify their age through facial recognition or official documentation. This decision directly impacts a community where a large portion of the players are children and teenagers, which has brought the balance between security and privacy into sharp focus.
The new policy is already being implemented globally and involves moving from a simple date of birth field to much stricter identity verification . While the change affects users worldwide, it is particularly relevant for families and educators in Europe and Spain, where the debate on how to protect minors on digital platforms and metaverses is increasingly prominent.
How the new age verification works in Roblox
The new control system doesn't change basic access to the game, but it does mark a turning point in how chat is used on the platform . To send messages, users must complete an age verification process directly from the Roblox app, using the device's camera or by uploading an identification document.
In practice, the process is quite guided: the player opens the relevant section in the app, grants camera access, and follows a series of steps to capture their face in a photo or short video. Verification isn't performed directly by Roblox, but rather delegated to Persona , a company specializing in digital identity solutions that uses Facial Age Estimation technology to calculate the user's age range.
For those over 13, there's an alternative: instead of facial recognition, they can upload an official document (such as a national ID card, passport, or equivalent, depending on the country). In both cases, Roblox emphasizes that the images and videos used in the process are deleted once the verification is complete and are not stored as a permanent biometric database.
If the system fails to estimate an age or classifies someone in the wrong group, an appeals process is available. Through this channel, users can request a review using alternative methods, such as providing additional documentation or involving their parents, who can update their children's account information and correct any errors.
Roblox also states that it will continue to monitor account behavior continuously and that, when it detects significant discrepancies between the declared age and actual activity, it may require additional verification . This is intended to close loopholes for those who try to circumvent filters to contact minors.
Chat segmented by age: six groups and less mixing between minors and adults.
Once a person passes the age verification, the system activates what Roblox calls age-based chat , a communication architecture that limits who can talk to whom. The platform divides all users into six well-defined groups: under 9 years old; 9 to 12; 13 to 15; 16 to 17; 18 to 20; and 21 and over.
The design of this system has a clear objective: to minimize direct contact between adults and minors under 16. By default, each user can only communicate with people in their own age group and the groups immediately above and below them. That is, a player aged 13 to 15 can chat with people aged 9 to 12 and 16 to 17, but not with adults aged 18 or older.
For children under 9, the platform further tightens the rules: chat is disabled by default and is only enabled if a responsible adult gives explicit consent after completing the required verification. This measure aims to clearly prevent unsupervised conversations with young children.
For teenagers aged 13 and up, Roblox maintains the feature of "trusted connections." This function allows, under certain conditions, expanding communication circles to include contacts outside the immediate age range , provided there are prior relationships or verified connections. The idea is that friends and family can stay in touch even if their ages don't quite fit within the standard age limits.
It's important to note that mandatory age verification only applies to chat. It's not required to access Roblox or play the experiences available on the platform, meaning it's still possible to access games without facial recognition, but with restricted social features.
Privacy, accuracy, and doubts about the use of biometric data
The use of facial recognition and age estimation technology has raised concerns among some members of the community, who are questioning the safety of handing over facial images to a tech company . Roblox insists that the system has been designed with multiple layers of protection and that privacy has been a priority from the start.
In this regard, the company emphasizes that Persona, its technology partner, processes the images only to calculate the age range and that the photos and videos are deleted after the verification process is complete . According to the company, they would not be used for other commercial purposes nor stored on servers long-term, which is intended to address concerns about the creation of biometric databases.
To reinforce security, Roblox combines this age verification with other tools already present on the platform: automatic filters that block the exchange of personal data between users who do not have a relationship of trust, proactive moderation systems to detect inappropriate content, and quick reporting channels to report suspicious behavior.
Regarding the system's reliability, the company claims that its facial estimation model has been tested by independent laboratories in the United Kingdom, with an average margin of error of around 1,4 years for those under 18. However, it acknowledges that no mechanism of this type is infallible , which is why it has provided review and appeal channels from the outset when the calculation does not match reality.
From a European perspective, these types of solutions operate in sensitive territory, marked by regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Privacy advocacy organizations and digital rights experts are closely observing how these controls are applied in EU countries , where the processing of biometric data is considered particularly sensitive and is subject to strict legal requirements.
A change accelerated by legal pressure and criticism of security
The decision to impose facial verification for chatting didn't come out of nowhere. It follows several years in which Roblox has faced very serious accusations regarding failures in protecting minors , with investigations, reports, and a mountain of lawsuits that have damaged its public reputation.
One of the most discussed investigations was that of Hindenburg Research, published in 2024, which described how the platform served as a meeting point for hundreds of malicious actors. According to its findings, there were at least 38 groups within Roblox, some with more than 100.000 members, dedicated to the exchange of child abuse material, sexual games, violent content, and extremely offensive speech . If confirmed, this scenario would demonstrate a serious failure of oversight.
Meanwhile, the British organization Revealing Reality conducted a practical experiment by creating several fictitious accounts simulating users aged 5, 9, 10, 13, and over 40. The aim was to test, beyond commercial claims, whether Roblox's security controls actually worked in practice and whether they were capable of preventing direct contact between young children and adults.
The results were alarming: multiple cases were documented in which children as young as five could interact with adults via chat without effective age verification. The report concluded that existing mechanisms were "limited in their effectiveness" and that significant risks to children remained in the gaming environment, despite the parental control tools announced by the company.
These and other investigations have had significant legal repercussions. In the United States alone, more than 20 federal lawsuits have been filed in the last year accusing Roblox of facilitating, through action or omission, situations of child sexual exploitation. At the same time, the game is banned in nearly ten countries—including Turkey, Algeria, China, Iraq, North Korea, Palestine, and Russia—primarily due to concerns related to child safety and the presence of content considered harmful.
Security improvements and skepticism among experts
Faced with this context of legal and media pressure, the company maintains that in recent years it has taken significant steps to strengthen the protection of its most vulnerable users. Roblox states that in 2024 alone it introduced more than 40 security improvements , with a particular emphasis on expanding and refining parental control tools that allow parents to manage their children's online activity.
These measures include more aggressive moderation of content and experiences, options to limit the types of games a minor can access, and additional filters on social features. The company itself emphasizes that facial verification and age-based chat segmentation are part of a broader plan to raise its standards and respond to criticism received internationally.
Despite this, some voices still believe the efforts are insufficient. Damon De Ionno, director of research at Revealing Reality, told the British newspaper The Guardian that, while the new security features are a step in the right direction, children can still chat with strangers who aren't on their friends list , and it's unrealistic to expect families to monitor everything that happens in an environment with over six million available experiences.
One of the most delicate issues is that many of these experiences have descriptions and ratings that don't always accurately reflect their content. This makes it very difficult for parents to assess the actual risk of each game, even if they spend time reviewing the catalog. Facial verification can help better segment interactions, but it doesn't solve all the problems associated with controlling what minors see and do within the Roblox universe.
With a user base of approximately 111,8 million daily active users worldwide, roughly 40% of whom are under 13, the scale of the challenge is enormous. The freemium access model and the absence of a clear age limit for registration have made the platform a particularly attractive environment for both children and, unfortunately, those who try to exploit them . The new verification policy is thus presented as another piece of a security puzzle that is still far from complete.
Global impact of the deployment and Europe's role
The rollout of mandatory age verification in the chat has been planned as a phased global launch . Following a pilot phase that began in late 2024 in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands, Roblox began extending the measure to other key regions, including Spanish-speaking territories like Mexico and Colombia.
According to data shared by the company, over 50% of daily active users in these test markets completed verification almost immediately, and globally, tens of millions of accounts have already been verified. These numbers position Roblox as one of the first major video game platforms to require such a rigorous age verification system to enable communication between users.
In Europe, this trend is also evident from a regulatory perspective: legislation such as the Digital Services Act (DSA) and online child protection regulations require major platforms to adopt proactive measures, such as strengthening age verification , especially when their services target child audiences. Roblox's move can be interpreted as an attempt to align itself with this increasingly stringent framework.
The company has also announced that in the coming months it will extend similar verification controls to other sensitive features , such as real-time collaboration within Roblox Studio, the experience creation tool. This aims to ensure that those participating in shared creative spaces also meet certain age requirements, thereby reducing potential situations of harassment or exploitation.
At the same time, Roblox has made informational materials and demonstrations of the verification process available in its newsroom and official channels. The intention is to clearly show how the validation is carried out and what data is collected , aiming to build trust among parents, educators, and authorities who closely scrutinize any use of facial recognition on minors.
With this package of changes, the gaming platform finds itself at the center of the debate on how the most popular metaverses and virtual spaces among children and teenagers should be configured. The implementation of facial verification for chatting, strict age segmentation, and strengthened parental control tools point to a somewhat more controlled environment, but recent research, user volume, and expert criticism remind us that child safety on Roblox remains an ongoing challenge that will require constant monitoring, continuous adjustments, and genuine involvement from families, regulators, and the company itself.
