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Roblox on Monday, April 13, announced several new account types that automatically apply varying levels of protections for children under 9 years and teenage users, including limiting their access to games that have cleared a multi-step screening process.
New and existing users under 9 years of age will be put into Roblox Kids accounts while those aged between 9 to 15 will be put into Roblox Select Accounts, the widely popular online gaming-cum-social networking platform said in a press release. To place younger users into age-appropriate accounts, Roblox said it is relying on the same age-checking technology deployed in its chat system, which lets users only communicate with other users of a similar age group based on either facial age estimation or ID verification.
The catalogs shown to Roblox Kids and Roblox Select users will include most of the games already played by users in those age groups, the company said. All games made accessible to Kids and Select account-holders will also have to pass a multi-step screening process comprising content review, developer verification, and platform usage patterns.
Roblox said the new age-appropriate account types will be rolled out globally from June 2026 onwards. In addition, the company introduced a new parental control that allows parents to block specific games.
The move could mark Roblox’s most significant effort yet to address child safety risks on its platform, following years of criticism from parents, regulators, and lawmakers over how it protects younger users. It also comes amid a broader shift toward age-gating across the internet, a trend that has sparked growing concerns among digital rights advocates over potential risks to user privacy and security.
In March this year, over 371 researchers across 29 countries signed an open letter which called for a moratorium on the roll-out of age verification tools and age estimation features on platforms “until the scientific consensus settles on the benefits and harms that age-assurance technologies can bring, and on the technical feasibility of such a deployment.”
New age-based accounts, safeguards
Roblox said it will automatically assign new and existing users to one of the account types listed below based on a user’s age-check or the age set by a verified linked parent.
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– Roblox Kids: This is designed for users between 5 to 8 years of age. It will only have games rated for under-9 users and have passed Roblox’s screening criteria. Besides having the chat option disabled by default, Roblox Kids will come with a different background colour so parents can see at a glance that their child is accessing the platform via the appropriate account.
Roblox Kids, Roblox Select, and Roblox standard account. (Image: Roblox)
– Roblox Select: This is designed for users between 9 to 15 years of age. It will have access to games rated up to Moderate and, similar to Roblox Kids, these games have to pass the screening criteria. While chat will be on by default, users can only communicate with Trusted Friends and other users in a similar age group.
Also Read | Roblox says over 45% daily users have completed mandatory age-checks for chat
Once a user turns 16, their account will be transitioned to a standard Roblox account with access to all the features and library of games (except Restricted Content, which is designed for users 18 and older). The exact ages, games, and features associated with these accounts will vary by region, Roblox added.
Accuracy of age-checking tools
Starting January 2026, Roblox made age-checks mandatory for all users who want to access communication features on the platform. Since then, over 50 per cent of the platform’s global daily active users have completed an age-check with either facial age estimation or ID verification, the company said.
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Parents can correct a child’s age if necessary. However, Roblox did not provide figures directly related to the accuracy of its age-checking tools.
New parental control to allow or block specific games. (Image: Roblox)
One of the many concerns raised by digital rights advocates is that age-checking tools are far from foolproof. “In general, most platforms offer age estimation options like face scans as a first line of age assurance. These vary in intrusiveness, but their main problem is inaccuracy, particularly for marginalised users,” The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) previously highlighted in a blog post.
Game review and safety screening
All new and existing games created on Roblox will undergo a three-step review before being seen by kids or younger teens, namely: Developer Verification, Real-Time Evaluation, and Games Eligibility Check.
Under the first step, under-16 game developers must first complete an ID verification process. They also need to have an active Roblox Plus subscription and add two-step verification to their account. The second step involves leveraging automated signals from Roblox’s real-time multimodal moderation system, which evaluates an entire scene to assess whether it breaks our rules.
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Also Read | ‘More harm than good’: Why hundreds of researchers want a pause on online age verification
Finally, games must meet specific gameplay criteria to be accessible to younger users, including having the appropriate content maturity label for the account. “Certain experiences, such as those featuring sensitive issues, social hangouts, or free-form drawing, will be excluded from Roblox Kids and Roblox Select accounts by default,” the company said.
