Following months of intense regulatory scrutiny and threats of massive fines from the Australian government, gaming behemoth Roblox has unveiled a sweeping overhaul of its platform designed to quarantine children from inappropriate content and predatory behaviour.
Starting in late May, the $55 billion company will globally roll out “Roblox Kids” and “Roblox Select” accounts, leveraging mandatory facial age-estimation technology to fundamentally alter how millions of young users navigate its sprawling virtual universe.
The shift comes after eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant placed Roblox “on notice” in February following reports of child grooming and sexual exploitation. The regulator had said the company faced penalties of up to $49.5 million if it failed to comply with Australia’s stringent new online safety codes by December.
In the United States, Roblox is battling a wrongful death lawsuit in Louisiana, which alleges the platform created an environment where predators could “thrive, unite, hunt and victimise kids”.
Roblox chief safety officer Matt Kaufman in an interview said the new guardrails were not a panicked reaction to regulatory heat but instead part of the company’s “long-term plan” to build trust.
“We are running a very large platform where we take any incident of anything safety-related incredibly serious,” he said. “Even one incident of somebody getting hurt and somehow it being associated with Roblox is one too many.”
The platform was not included in Australia’s under-16s social media ban, a decision critics have called a loophole, as most of Roblox’s 150-million-plus daily users are under 18.
“I think Australia is unique in the first country to implement a … ban for social media. You’re certainly trailblazers in doing that,” Kaufman said. “But we don’t equate Roblox to social media. Social media is very much a solitary experience … when we look at the way users use Roblox, it’s much more of an interactive experience”.
Historically, platforms have relied on self-reported birthdates, a system Kaufman says is inherently flawed. “When you start saying that there are certain content or certain things that are only available when you reach a certain age, I think that there’s a lot of evidence that kids and teens adjust what age they report to get that,” Kaufman said.
“We had a lot of historical concerns with doing these hard age gates, because we knew what would end up happening was just users weren’t going to be honest.”
To solve this, Roblox is relying heavily on facial age-estimation scans, an initiative it began rolling out for chat features in January. With the new update, those scans will act as a digital bouncer for the games themselves.
Users estimated to be under nine will be locked into Roblox Kids, featuring only minimal or mild rated games, with chat turned off by default. Those aged nine to 15 will graduate to Roblox select, which allows moderate games and age-matched chat. The company also plans to adopt the Australian Classification Board’s familiar age ratings later this year.
The AI estimation tech isn’t perfect, carrying an average error margin of 1.4 years for minors, meaning a seven-year-old could theoretically be assessed as a nine-year-old. Kaufman equated the system’s imperfections to automobile safety.
“Is there a chance you’re going to get hurt by that seatbelt? Absolutely,” he said. “Could the child get hurt by the seatbelt? Yes. Is it categorically better than not having the seatbelt? Yes”. He said parents maintained the ultimate override as they can manually verify their own identity to adjust a child’s age bracket.
Games eligible for the younger tiers must clear a three-step screening process. Developers are required to complete ID verification, enable two-factor authentication, and maintain an active Roblox Plus subscription, a $4.99 a month tier launched separately on April 10.
New games are first played by verified over-16 users, whose abuse reports and signals from Roblox’s moderation system are used to evaluate content before younger users gain access. Games featuring social hangouts, free-form drawing, or sensitive issues are excluded from Kids and Select accounts by default.
Australia’s eSafety commissioner declined to comment directly on the announcement, noting its investigation into the platform remains active.
“In July 2025, eSafety opened an investigation into Roblox’s safety practices,” a spokesman said. “eSafety has been continuing to engage Roblox at senior levels, including within recent weeks. As these investigative measures are ongoing, we will not comment specifically on this announcement, but we certainly welcome any measures that improve the safety of users, especially children.”
The spokesperson said eSafety would continue to monitor compliance with the Online Safety Act, “including looking at the outcomes of these new safety measures, as well as measuring compliance against the recently commenced age-restricted material codes”.
Kaufman said he viewed safety investment as a commercial accelerant rather than a drag on growth. He said Roblox did not run traditional advertising.
“We don’t do giant billboards on the side of the road,” he said. “What we do is instil trust with our users and their families, and that’s what drives growth.”
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David Swan is the technology editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously technology editor for The Australian newspaper.Connect via X or email.
