Roblox update: New checks required to access chat

The popular online gaming platform Roblox is rolling out global age verification checks to access its chat feature after a soft launch in select regions late last year. 

The company told Newsweek, “Safety has always been foundational to Roblox, and we now believe that age estimation technology is at a place where it can operate effectively at scale.”

Why It Matters

Roblox’s decision to require age verification via facial estimation before users can access chat features represents a significant shift in how major online platforms address child safety and privacy.

With over 151 million daily users in 2025—almost half of them Americans under 16—Roblox’s global rollout of this policy follows mounting legal and regulatory scrutiny regarding children’s exposure to inappropriate content and predatory behavior online. 

What To Know

As of Wednesday, Roblox requires users worldwide to complete an age check—primarily via an AI-powered facial verification process—to access chat features on its platform. 

The technology, provided by vendor Persona, carries out the facial verification process through a user’s device camera.

All images and videos are deleted immediately after the process is complete, according to Roblox’s official statement.

Users are assigned to one of six chat age groups—under 9, 9 to 12, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, 18 to 20, over 21—and are only able to chat with others in adjacent or the same age brackets, with the goal of preventing adults from directly communicating with children under 16. 

Roblox said, “We’re also working on systems to make it easier for children to chat with their parents and siblings in different age groups.”

Parental consent is required for users under 9. Users ages 13 and up may choose ID verification as an alternative, TechCrunch reported. 

Roblox said chat features would remain locked unless users verified their age, though gameplay would not require age checks.

In regions such as Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands, where the measure was launched in December, over 50 percent of daily active users have already completed age checks, according to Roblox. 

Roblox emphasized that the process was private and designed to be accurate. The AI estimation’s mean absolute error was reported at 1.4 years for users under 18, according to independent third-party lab testing.

The company said, “It’s equally important to be prepared for cases that may need correcting—and for any backup methods to be tried and tested.”

The rollout also arrives as Roblox faces almost 80 lawsuits and regulatory actions in the U.S. concerning allegations that its platform did not do enough to prevent child exploitation or warn families about risks.

What People Are Saying

Matt Kaufman, the chief safety officer at Roblox, and Rajiv Bhatia, a vice president and the head of user and discovery product at Roblox, said in a joint statement: “As the first large online gaming platform to require facial age checks for users of all ages to access chat, this implementation is our next step toward what we believe will be the gold standard for communication safety. It enables age-based chat, which promotes a positive, age-appropriate experience for all users globally, and limits communication between adults and children younger than 16.”

CaterSuper, a Roblox developer and community member, posted in a Roblox developer forum: “This update not only completely cripples entire genres and small games on Roblox. It also adds another layer of mystery and developer guessing to this platform. …

“There are so many issues with this update. There has been so much outspoken feedback from the community. Yet you continue to ignore any of it, give non-answers, delete games, and then the game developers have to ask why you deleted their game, because you can’t even provide an answer at the time of deletion.”

What Happens Next

How Roblox handles safety, privacy and the impact on its vast young audience will likely influence digital policy far beyond the gaming industry.

According to the company, “Tens of millions of daily active users have already completed an age check, and we expect many more to follow.”

Roblox said its global age check system was only the first step in an expanded safety strategy. The company plans to extend age verification requirements to creators using Roblox Studio’s real-time collaboration features and will soon update its community policies for further clarity and enforcement.

“Today’s global rollout is a significant milestone,” the company said. “With each new innovation, we continue to expand our foundation for future innovations. In the coming months, we will require age checks for creators to access Roblox Studio’s real-time collaboration features and update our policies around Roblox communities. (The age groups we’re currently using for chat may not be identical to those used for Studio or other products.)”

Lawsuits over child safety are ongoing, with several cases against Roblox and other major tech platforms pending in U.S. courts. Roblox points users and parents at its SafetyCenter and Help Center for resources on internet safety, age verification and parental controls.