Roblox commits to privacy overhaul after regulator finds adults could contact children

The regulator said testing earlier this year also revealed that children and adults could view and respond to one another's posts on forums outside game environments without parental consent. Children's connections and profiles, including account names and interests, were visible to anyone on Roblox.

The commitments were made in a legal undertaking after the eSafety commissioner raised concerns that Roblox may not be compliant with codes and standards under the Online Safety Act, alleging the platform failed to have sufficient measures preventing contact between adults and children.

In December last year, Roblox introduced changes to limit children's ability to speak with adults after reports of grooming, exposure to inappropriate or violent content, and child abuse. Under those changes, accounts for users under 16 were private by default, tools prevented adult users from contacting under-16s without parental consent, and direct chat was switched off by default until age estimation. Parental controls could disable chat for 13- to 15-year-olds, and voice chat was not allowed for that age group, matching restrictions for users aged 12 and under.

In its announcement on Thursday, eSafety said Roblox committed to preventing adults from contacting unknown children without parental consent and strengthening children's account settings so they are private by default. The company also committed to engaging a third-party auditor to assess its safety measures, including age-estimation technology. Roblox will have three months to make the changes, and the commissioner has warned it may apply to the federal court for an order to comply if the undertaking is breached.

A Roblox spokesperson said there had been constructive dialogue with eSafety and the company had delivered on its safety commitments in the past year. The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, said about 1.7 million Australian children use Roblox. "We have been engaging with Roblox for some time at senior levels about our concerns and the company has responded, making a number of improvements to its service," she said. The third-party auditing would ensure Roblox cannot "mark their own homework," she added.

Roblox was excluded from Australia's under-16s social media ban last year because platforms with the dominant purpose of gaming are not covered. Inman Grant did not rule out including Roblox in the ban if it was later determined that its social features were the dominant purpose.