● Covered by 5 sources · 5 reportsMedium impact3 negative2 neutral
Roblox commits to privacy changes after eSafety finds adult-child contact issues
Key points
- eSafety found adults could see child accounts and send connection requests.
- Children's profiles and posts were visible to anyone on Roblox.
- Roblox committed to making child accounts private by default.
- A third-party auditor will assess Roblox's safety measures.
- Roblox committed to a "court-enforceable undertaking" with eSafety.
- eSafety engaged with Roblox for two years prior to these findings.
- Roblox will implement stronger measures within three months.
- Roblox rolled out mandatory age verification in late 2025, starting with Australia.
- eSafety's testing this year found the platform continued to put children at risk.
- Roblox's issues included allegedly failing to prevent contact between adults and children under 16.
- Adults could send connection requests to young Australian children without parental consent.
- Children and adults could view and respond to one another's posts on forums.
- Children's connections were visible to anyone on the Roblox platform.
- eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant announced the findings on Thursday.
- Adults could search kids' visible contact lists for more targets.
- Connection requests to children did not trigger parental alerts.
eSafety Investigation Findings
Australia's eSafety commissioner discovered that adults on the Roblox platform could still view child accounts and send connection requests without parental consent. Testing also revealed that children and adults could see and respond to each other's posts on forums outside of game environments. Additionally, children's connections and profiles, including account names and interests, were visible to all users.
Previous Safety Measures
In December of the previous year, Roblox introduced changes to limit interactions between children and adults on the platform. These updates included making accounts for users under 16 private by default and providing tools to prevent adult users from contacting under-16s without parental consent. Direct chat was also disabled by default until age estimation was completed, and parental controls could disable chat for 13- to 15-year-olds, with voice chat restricted for this age group and younger.
Roblox's Commitments
Following discussions with eSafety, Roblox has committed to further changes. These include preventing adults from contacting unknown children without parental consent and strengthening child account settings to be private by default. Roblox will also engage a third-party auditor to evaluate its safety measures, including its age-estimation technology. The company has three months to implement these changes, with eSafety warning of potential federal court action if the undertaking is breached.
Impact and Context
The eSafety commissioner had raised concerns that Roblox might not comply with codes and standards under the Online Safety Act, citing insufficient measures to prevent contact between adults and children. Approximately 1.7 million Australian children use Roblox. This commitment from Roblox addresses these regulatory concerns and aims to enhance child safety on the platform.
Updates
- eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant announced the findings on Thursday.
- Adults could search kids' visible contact lists for more targets.
- Connection requests to children did not trigger parental alerts.
- eSafety's testing this year found the platform continued to put children at risk.
- Roblox's issues included allegedly failing to prevent contact between adults and children under 16.
- Adults could send connection requests to young Australian children without parental consent.
- Children and adults could view and respond to one another's posts on forums.
- Children's connections were visible to anyone on the Roblox platform.
- Roblox committed to a "court-enforceable undertaking" with eSafety.
- eSafety engaged with Roblox for two years prior to these findings.
- Roblox will implement stronger measures within three months.
- Roblox rolled out mandatory age verification in late 2025, starting with Australia.
✨ This summary was generated by AI from the outlets' reporting listed below. It is not independently verified and may contain errors — check the original sources. How BrevFeed works →
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How outlets covered it
Australia's online safety regulator, eSafety, reported that Roblox has not adequately addressed child safety concerns, finding that the platform continues to allow contact between children and adult strangers. Roblox plans to implement further safety measures, including preventing adult-child contact without parental consent and making children's accounts private by default. This matters because it highlights ongoing challenges in protecting minors on online platforms and the regulatory pressure companies face to enhance safety features.
Australia's eSafety Commissioner found that Roblox still allows adult strangers to contact children and view their profiles, despite previous updates. Roblox has entered a court-enforceable agreement to implement changes within three months to prevent unwanted contact and make children's accounts private by default.
Australia's eSafety Commissioner found Roblox's child safety measures to be insufficient, identifying four key vulnerabilities that allow adults to contact children without parental consent and view their profiles. Roblox has agreed to implement stronger protections within three months, including private-by-default settings for children's accounts and improved reporting mechanisms.
Roblox committed to a "court-enforceable undertaking" with Australia's eSafety commission to improve child safety on its platform. This follows eSafety's findings that Roblox still allowed adult-child contact and exposed underage user information, despite previous safety updates.
Roblox has agreed to implement privacy changes on its platform following findings by Australia's eSafety commissioner that adults could still contact child accounts and view their profiles without parental consent. These changes aim to strengthen child account settings and prevent unsolicited contact, addressing concerns about compliance with online safety standards.