Roblox Requires Facial Scans for Under-16s in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Roblox announced Thursday that children under 16 in Indonesia must submit to facial scans for age verification to comply with the country's new restrictions on minors' access to social media and digital platforms.

Nicky Jackson Colaco, Roblox's vice president and global head of public policy, detailed the measures during a press conference in Jakarta. She described them as among the strictest the company has implemented anywhere in the world. The changes affect Indonesia's approximately 45 million Roblox users, including 23 million identified as under 16, according to Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid.

Under the new system, Roblox is introducing age-based accounts. Roblox Kids, for users ages 5 to 12, disables all chat features. Roblox Select, for ages 13 to 15, restricts chat to parents or approved family and friends. The platform will automatically transition the 23 million under-16 accounts into these categories. Any Indonesian user without a facial age estimate will default to a Roblox Kids account and lose chat access.

The verification process requires a video selfie, analyzed to estimate age. Jackson Colaco said the data is...