(Credit: Cheng Xin/Getty Images)
Roblox is running into significant challenges with its new age-verification system.
As Wired reports, the system has trouble estimating a user’s age correctly and is causing some of them to lose contact with their friends after verification. More importantly, it is mislabeling some adults as kids and vice versa.
This kills the whole purpose of the verification. Roblox is facing lawsuits in Texas, Louisiana and Kentucky for allegedly turning the platform into a “breeding ground” for child sexual predators. The age checks were meant to distance kids from unknown adults.
Last week, Roblox made age verification mandatory for users aged 13 and above to unlock chat features. The process is handled by third-party vendor Persona, which uses an AI-powered age-estimation tool. Users can also upload a government ID for verification. Once verified, they are placed into one of six age categories and can only chat with others in the same or similar groups.
On social media platforms and forums, Wired found at least 100 posts of players and parents complaining about incorrect age estimation.
To circumvent the age-gating, some parents are also completing the process on behalf of their kids, according to Roblox. “We are aware of instances where parents age check on behalf of their children, leading to kids being aged to 21+. We are working on solutions to address this and we’ll share more here soon,” the company said last week.
In a more troubling development from last week, Dexerto reported that access to some verified accounts was being sold for as little as $4.45 on eBay. An eBay spokesperson tells Wired that it is now removing those listings for violating platform policies.
Several game developers are unhappy with the mishandled rollout, with some even demanding a rollback. Screenshots of chat activity indicate a massive drop in interactions across multiple games.
Roblox has, so far, verified millions of users, but the company’s chief safety officer Matt Kaufman told Wired that, “You can’t flip a switch while building something that hasn’t existed before [and expect it] to be flawless overnight."