Australia’s eSafety regulator has determined that Roblox has not adequately addressed child safety concerns on its platform, according to testing conducted during the year. The regulator has been investigating whether the company complies with Australia’s Online Safety Act, particularly regarding protections designed to prevent contact between adults and minors under 16 years old.
eSafety’s testing identified multiple vulnerabilities in the platform’s safety architecture. Adults were able to send connection requests directly to young Australian children without requiring parental or guardian approval. Children and adults could also view and interact with each other’s posts on community forums that operate outside of game environments, again without parental consent being required. Additionally, the profiles and connections of child users were visible to any person using the platform, with no privacy controls available to restrict this visibility. Child profiles displayed account names, biographical information such as interests, avatar images, connection lists, and other data to the general Roblox user base.
Although Roblox has stated it believes the company meets its obligations under the Online Safety Act, the platform has agreed to implement additional safety measures. These commitments include restricting adult contact with unknown children unless parental consent is obtained, implementing private-by-default account settings for child users, and establishing clearer reporting mechanisms that inform users about the outcomes of complaints they file. Roblox has also agreed to engage an independent auditor to evaluate how effectively its safety measures function, including the performance of its age-estimation technology.
Roblox’s global head of public policy characterized the agreement as reflecting the company’s broader commitment to child safety and its willingness to cooperate with regulators internationally. The company highlighted recent safety-focused features, including specialized account types designed for younger users. Beyond Australia, Roblox faces ongoing scrutiny in the United States, where it is being investigated by a Senate subcommittee and has faced lawsuits from multiple states over child safety allegations, though it has resolved some of these cases.
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