Roblox on the hook for $12.5M in Nevada online child safety settlement

Roblox has agreed to pay $12.5 million to the State of Nevada, in part of a settlement deal that “resolves potential litigation over allegations that Roblox failed to adequately safeguard children while they played the online game,” according to a release from Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford.

Ten million is committed to instituting age assurance for all users, which encompasses facial age estimation or government ID for age verification, as well as for “encouraging children to engage in non-digital activities.” One million will be spent on a two-year campaign to educate minors and adults about online safety. The remainder will be used to create a law enforcement liaison position to work with state law enforcement agencies over concerns about the platform.

Ford says “the injunctive relief that Roblox has agreed to will give parents the tools they need to protect their children on the platform; institute default protections to block predators from engaging with children; and ensure that messages involving minors are not encrypted.”

Per reporting in CNET, Roblox is facing more than 140 lawsuits over alleged shortcomings in online safety. Nevada is now closing its probe.

Roblox still claiming to be online safety paragon

Roblox has continued to push online safety features as evidence that it takes child online safety as seriously as anyone. A post on the company’s blog from CEO David Baszucki outlines two new age-based accounts for younger users: Roblox Kids is tailored to users ages 5 to 8, while Roblox Select will target users ages 9 to 15.“When they roll out in early June, these accounts will more closely align content access, communication settings, and parental controls with a user’s age,” Baszucki says. “We’re also establishing an ongoing selection process for games available to users under 16. Based on our selection criteria, we believe age-checked users under 16 will have access to the vast majority of their favorite games at launch. Age-checked users 16 and older will not see any change to their Roblox experience.”

Roblox Kids accounts will limit access to games with a Minimal or Mild content maturity label.

All communication is disabled by default. Roblox Select accounts will have access to games with content maturity labels up to and including Moderate. By default, Roblox Kids and Roblox Select accounts will not include games that feature sensitive issues, social hangouts, or free-form drawing games.

The company says it uses a three-step selection process to categorize games. The system factors in developer identity verification, real-time profiling and content maturity ratings. It also intends to transition to the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) framework for assigning content ratings. Baszucki says “these clear, region-specific ratings, such as ESRB in the U.S. and PEGI in much of Europe and the U.K., reflect local cultural norms and will help families identify age-appropriate content while further reinforcing our alignment with global safety standards and local regulations.”

Users will automatically upgrade from Roblox Kids to Roblox Select accounts when they reach age 9, and to standard accounts when they turn 16. Roblox will limit users who have not completed an age check to games rated Minimal or Mild and communication will be turned off by default.

The update also introduces new parental controls, which “transparently show parents which games their child is spending their time in and who their friends are.” Parents can approve access to specific games that are not otherwise available under the child’s default account type.

However, the company has also raised concerns that parents may be helping their kids bypass age checks. The Guardian reports that the firm discovered this while monitoring account behavior to detect signs that a user might have been younger than the age they appeared in facial age estimation.

“When we went and did the validation tests on that, you could see the kid in the background who handed the phone to their parent,” says Matt Kaufman, Roblox’s chief of safety.

Roblox is the new oxycontin: Kentucky AG

“When it comes to safety, we do the right thing, including proactive filtering, age checks, parental controls, and providing clear content ratings,” Baszucki says. “Because the well-being of our community is our highest priority.”

Nonetheless, Roblox continues to serve as a hunting ground for child predators. In a recent interview with Russell Coleman, attorney general for Kentucky – which is also suing Roblox – compared the risks to those presented by opioids.

“This and the social media platforms, Roblox being one of those, it is the opioid fight of my time in office.” Coleman says. “This, this is the threat now.”

Coleman previously referred to Roblox as “a playground for predators and international organizations with links to terrorist organizations to distribute child sexual abuse material.”

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometric age estimation  |  children  |  lawsuits  |  Roblox  |  United States