Roblox Introduces New Safety Measures: Blocks Under-13s from Messaging, Enhances Parental Controls

Roblox has announced it will block under-13s from messaging others on the online gaming platform as part of new efforts to safeguard children.

Child users will not be able to send direct messages within games by default unless a verified parent or guardian gives them permission.

Parents will also be able to view and manage their child’s account, including seeing their list of online friends, and setting daily limits on their play time.

Roblox is the most popular gaming platform for eight to 12 year olds in the UK, according to Ofcom research, but it has been urged to make its experiences safer for children.

The company said it would begin rolling out the changes from Monday, and they will be fully implemented by the end of March 2025.

It means young children will still be able to access public conversations seen by everyone in games – so they can still talk to their friends – but cannot have private conversations without parental consent.

Matt Kaufman, Roblox’s chief safety officer, said the game is played by 88 million people each day, and over 10% of its total employees – equating to thousands of people – work on the platform’s safety features.

“As our platform has grown in scale, we have always recognised that our approach to safety must evolve with it,” he said.

Besides banning children from sending direct messages (DMs) across the platform, it will give parents more ways to easily see and manage their child’s activity.

Parents and guardians must verify their identity and age with a form of government-issued ID or a credit card in order to access parental permissions for their child, via their own linked account.

But Mr Kaufman acknowledged identity verification is a challenge being faced by a lot of tech companies, and called on parents to make sure a child has the correct age on their account.

“Our goal is to keep all users safe, no matter what age they are,” he said.

“We encourage parents to be working with their kids to create accounts and hopefully ensure that their kids are using their accurate age when they sign up.”

Roblox also announced it planned to simplify descriptions for content on the platform.

It is replacing age recommendations for certain games and experiences to “content labels” that simply outline the nature of the game.

It said this meant parents could make decisions based on the maturity of their child, rather than their age.