Laws governing the use of social media, designed to limit access by minors, have been enacted in several countries recently (see the abstract “Australia Bans Social Media for Children Younger than 16 Years,” from June 2025). Although gaming platforms technically are not subject to this legislation, Roblox has decided to introduce age verification for all users in the region, seeking to reduce the risk that children enter into interactions with unfamiliar adults. The rollout will include not just Australia and New Zealand but also the Netherlands, whose Authority for Consumers and Markets has raised concerns about Roblox’s compliance with the EU Digital Services Act. The verification system requires copies of official identification cards, along with a selfie of the user to confirm their identity. The technology then sorts confirmed participants into age-specific categories and limits certain features and interactions for younger participants. Although Roblox already had established parental controls, filtered chat requests, and conducted automated monitoring of messages, it also has come in for consistent criticism, along with several lawsuits, for its failure to enforce age verification requirements. Allegations of child endangerment are serious concerns for a platform on which an estimated one-third of accounts, or about 40 million users worldwide, belong to consumers younger than 13 years of age. In announcing the new system, Roblox described it as a “signal of trust” and called on potential development partners to take similar steps. But the platform’s choice to introduce the verification initiative only in regions that already have imposed new age-based regulations raises some skepticism of the trustworthiness of its own intentions.

Sources: Jenny Gross, “Roblox, Where Kids Game and Chat, Will Analyze Their Faces to Verify Age,” The New York Times, November 21, 2025; Charlotte Van Campenhout, “Dutch Regulator to Probe Roblox Over Risks to Minors,” Reuters, January 30, 2026.