Roblox is adding face-based age checks for anyone who wants to use its chat features, the company announced today, starting with a voluntary Facial Age Estimation rollout that will eventually become required for communication tools. The move comes in an official Roblox corporate announcement from the chief safety officer and product VP. The system uses a quick face scan to estimate whether a user is an adult before granting chat access. Roblox says images and videos are deleted immediately after processing and that age-based chat limits will be added to reduce contact between adults and users under 18.
This applies to all players who want to use communication features. The company framed the change as a first for online gaming and communication platforms. Discord already runs a similar face-check option in the United Kingdom, and researchers have shown ways those checks can be bypassed using clips from other games. Privacy and security advocates are likely to push back because biometric data is sensitive. Recent incidents tied to other platforms underscore the risk. A report on leaked age-verification photos raised alarms about how verification images can be exposed, and a separate notice described a support breach that may have exposed government ID images on a messaging platform reported earlier.
Roblox’s announcement tries to address those concerns by promising immediate deletion after scans and by rolling the feature out slowly. The company also plans age-tiered chat channels so minors and adults can interact only within their respective tiers. Months ago the CEO told worried parents not to “let your kids be on Roblox” which drew criticism. This update is the clearest safety plan Roblox has offered since then. How well the system works will depend on the execution. Face estimation can block obvious mismatches but might misclassify teens and young adults, and no system is immune to false positives or abuse. The deletion promise matters, but it will need independent oversight and strong incident response if verification files are ever exposed.
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