Roblox Rolls Out Facial Age Verification for Chats

Roblox, the popular online gaming platform with nearly 380 million monthly active users worldwide, announced this week that it will require facial age verification for access to chat features, aiming to prevent children from interacting with unknown adults. The system, which uses artificial intelligence to estimate users' ages from video selfies, begins rolling out voluntarily now and becomes mandatory in early December in Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands, with a global implementation planned for early January.

The verification process, handled by third-party provider Persona, involves users taking a short video through the Roblox app's camera, moving their face to confirm authenticity. Images and videos are deleted immediately after processing, according to the company. Once verified, users are assigned to one of six age groups: under 9, 9-12, 13-15, 16-17, 18-20, or 21 and older. Chat access will then be restricted to peers in the same or similar age brackets, reducing opportunities for age-disparate conversations. For instance, children aged 9-12 can only message users under 16. Users over 13 can add "trusted connections" for chats with known individuals outside...