Following Roblox’s roll out of mandatory age checks, Dr. Elizabeth Milovidov, Head of Global Parental Advocacy, explains what’s changing, why it matters for families, and why parents should feel more confident about safer online gameplay.
Parenting in the modern age isn’t easy, and all too often, getting online safety right can feel like guesswork. I may work in tech, but as I watch my youngest effortlessly navigate social media while streaming games, or see my eldest using AI tools to distil information faster than I can read it, the feeling of uncertainty can creep in.
I know I’m not alone. The parents I speak to are consistent: they want their children to be able to create, learn, and connect online, but they worry about safety and making sure experiences are age-appropriate. This includes wanting to know that the person their child is chatting with is a peer – not an adult pretending to be a teen, or a much older child in a space meant for younger ones.
This feels like common sense. When our children first learn to play sports, we wouldn’t want them to play competitively with adults – so why should the online world be any different?
That’s why I’m proud to say that last month, Roblox rolled out a major change globally, following its initial launch in Australia, alongside New Zealand and the Netherlands, late last year. We are the first large online gaming platform to make facial age checks a requirement for anyone who wants to use our chat features, meaning more age-appropriate experiences for all users.
Put simply: if your child or teen wants to use Roblox’s chat features to communicate with others, they will need to do a mandatory age check first. Users will see a prompt in the Roblox app asking them to verify their age, they’ll then grant permission for Roblox to access their device’s camera, and will then follow the on-screen instructions to complete the age check, including centering themselves on the screen and turning their face to the left and right.
Once the age check is completed and securely processed, all image and video data is immediately deleted. Users are then assigned an age group and only allowed to communicate with people in their own and similar age groups. Those who don’t go through the process will lose access to chat. It’s not a silver bullet, but we believe it will go a long way toward helping to remove the guesswork about who children are connecting with.
As I’ve talked to parents about these changes in recent months, many have asked, “Why now?” The simple truth is that verifying age online has been a longstanding hurdle for the entire tech industry. Historically, companies relied on two flawed methods. The first – asking for government ID – is impractical because most minors don’t have passports or driver licenses, and there are additional privacy considerations for younger users. The second method involves only analysing online behaviour patterns to guess ages. While important, this flags potential issues after a conversation has already started, leaving a key gap.
That’s why the age checks we are rolling out are game-changing, and why we hope the wider tech industry will follow our example. After years in development and months of testing, we feel confident that the technology is advanced and precise enough to roll out to everyone. This is the safest, simplest, and a more privacy-preserving way to support families in this important area of online safety.
When paired with Roblox’s additional safety features like chat filters and parental controls, which still allow you to turn off communication entirely if you feel your child isn’t ready, we are giving parents and caregivers a clear foundation. From here, they can talk to their kids about online safety and decide what is right for their families.
As 2026 begins, I’m committed to keep fighting to give parents more understanding of the “unknowns” of digital life. And, for the first time, I’m excited that Roblox’s newly-launched Parent Council, made up of parents and carers from Australia and beyond, will be there to help me and make sure that the changes we’re making work for families.
But none of this can happen in a vacuum. While Roblox may be the first global platform to restrict chat in this way, we should not be the last.
We believe this balanced approach, which focuses on verifying age before interaction begins, should become the standard across the industry. As these changes take effect in Australia and across the globe, my hope is that other platforms will follow suit, ensuring that young people everywhere can play, learn, and create in spaces their families can truly trust.