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Social gaming platform Roblox is introducing an age-verification system to ensure its users engage in unfiltered chats only after proving they are over 13. The platform is also renaming “Friends” to “Connections” and limiting unfiltered chats to what it calls Trusted Connections.
To add a friend as a Trusted Connection, you’ll both need to complete the new Age Estimation process. It begins with uploading a video selfie, which is analyzed against a broad data set to estimate age.
Once verified, you can unlock “a more open and engaging communication experience” across chats and Party group calls, Roblox says. Parents of users aged 13-17 can also link their accounts to see who their teen’s Trusted Connections are.
Age Estimation is completely optional. If it fails, you can provide a government ID to prove age. In case you don’t wish to use unfiltered chats or other age-restricted features, you can skip the verification process entirely.
Roblox has partnered with identity verification company Persona to develop its Age Estimation tech. In a call with reporters, a company representative assured users that all biometric data would be deleted within 30 days, unless legal requirements arose.
Roblox is also introducing guardrails to ensure appropriate communication between a user above 18 and a user aged 13-17. By default, the communication between these two parties is blocked. If they wish to add each other as Trusted Connections, they need to have a preexisting, real-life relationship confirmed through a QR code or phone contact.
These developments follow the company’s decision to ban Hangouts for users under 13. Nearly 40% of Roblox’s daily users are pre-teens, and the platform has faced severe backlash in the past for being unable to curb child abuse.