Roblox will reportedly soon introduce new child safety controls aimed at stemming the tide of criticism aimed at Roblox Corporation over a perceived lack of protection for underage users on the platform.
According to a Bloomberg report (which cites an email from Roblox to parents), these controls include limiting certain chat features for users under 13 without parental permission, as well as requiring children under 9 to get permission to access games with “moderate violence or crude humor”, as Bloomberg says.
Additionally, Roblox will supposedly be introducing a new kind of account that allows parents to monitor what their children do on Roblox, as well as who they’re interacting with on the platform.
In a statement provided to Bloomberg by Roblox Corporation, the company said the changes were “part of Roblox‘s commitments to making the platform one of the safest online environments for our users”.
However, the spokesperson for Roblox Corporation didn’t elaborate on the changes. It’s likely we’ll hear more from Roblox Corporation itself as we draw closer to the official reveal for the changes, which we’re likely to see next month, according to Bloomberg.
These changes follow in the wake of a damning report released by short-selling firm Hindenburg Research, in which the company refers to Roblox as an “X-rated pedophile hellscape” in which some groups openly trade child pornography and solicit sexual favors.
The report also found that moderators have a “limited ability” to remove perpetrators and keep them away from Roblox, and that moderation for the platform is “largely outsourced to Asian call centers” at which moderators are paid “$12 a day to review countless instances of child grooming and bullying”.
The upcoming changes also come against a backdrop of Roblox reducing its trust and safety spending back in August, a move that some called into question considering mounting concerns about child safety within Roblox communities.
Whether or not these child safety controls do anything to improve things for Roblox remains to be seen; we’ll have to wait and see what happens when they’re officially announced. Stay tuned for more.
