Roblox is introducing a way to let trusted friends chat more freely among themselves, but it will require that they use a new age estimation tool to verify that they’re over 13.
The platform is renaming Friends to Connections, and people can only use unfiltered text chat and the Party social feature with a more exclusive group of “Trusted Connections.” The new age estimator tool prompts users to take a video selfie, “which is analyzed against a large and diverse dataset to estimate their age,” according to a blog post from chief safety officer Matt Kaufman.
“If the system is not able to estimate the user’s age with high confidence, then the user’s age will remain unconfirmed and the user won’t be able to access Trusted Connections,” Kaufman says. If a user doesn’t pass the age estimation tool but they are actually over 13, they will be able to confirm their age via ID verification “and, in the future, verified parental consent.”
Roblox partnered with identity verification company Persona on the age estimation technology, Roblox’s Ryan Ebanks said in a call with reporters, and he says biometric data will be deleted 30 days after collection “except for a few exceptions where legally required.” Persona is “providing the core age estimation and ID verification services to Roblox,” spokesperson Juliet Chaitin-Lefcourt tells The Verge, and “Persona’s model is integrated into the Roblox app with additional UI and logic that has been customized by Roblox.”
Users 13 through 17 who have their age confirmed will be able to add each other as Trusted Connections. Teens will only be able to add someone older than 18 as a Trusted Connection if they know them in real life, Kaufman says, and they can do that by scanning a QR code in person or using Roblox’s Contact Importer feature.
Although chats with Trusted Connections can be unfiltered, Roblox will monitor the conversations for “critical harm.”
“This includes, but isn’t limited to, any predatory behavior aimed at manipulating or harming minors, the sexualization of minors, engaging in inappropriate sexual conversations with or requesting sexual content, and any involvement with child sexual abuse material,” Chaitin-Lefcourt says.
Roblox is also introducing new features intended to support users’ well-being. A new option will let people control who sees whether they’re online. (Before, they could only hide which experience they were in.) Users can also set a Do Not Disturb timeframe to silence Roblox’s push notifications, and teens will be able to set their own screentime limits (a feature previously limited to parents).
