> At a Glance
> – Roblox is making facial age scans mandatory for anyone who wants to chat in the US and all other markets
> – The 3-D selfie sorts players into six age bands so adults can’t message children
> – Tens of millions of users have already completed the check
> Why it matters: Parents worried about predators get a new barrier, but critics say the fix may be too late to restore trust
Roblox is locking chat behind a camera. Starting this week, every player who wants to talk with others must first let the game scan their face and guess their age.
How the Scan Works
A quick selfie taken with a webcam or phone camera builds a 3-D map of your face. Vendor Persona runs the scan, then dumps the image. You’re dropped into one of six buckets: under 9, 9-12, 13-15, 16-17, 18-20, or 21+. Kids under nine need a parent’s OK before they can type a single word.
- Adults can only see chats from peers in the same band or a nearby one
- Media sharing is also being throttled
- AI watches the conversation in real time
Roll-out Numbers
| Region | Early adoption (daily active users) |
|---|---|
| Australia, NZ, Netherlands | 50 % after launch |
| Global | Tens of millions completed |
Why Roblox Says It’s Needed
The platform has 380 million monthly players and fresh records for simultaneous users. It also faces dozens of lawsuits and state probes in Florida, Texas, Louisiana and Kentucky over claims of child exploitation. A California judge recently refused to move one suit into private arbitration.
Company statement:
> “Roblox is the first online gaming or communication platform to require facial age checks to access chat, establishing what we believe will become a new industry standard.”
Expert Split
Child-privacy voices like Scott Kollins of Aura call the tools “encouraging” but warn they’re “just one part of the safety puzzle.” Stephen Balkam of the Family Online Safety Institute wants the system to work across other sites so families verify once. Paromita Pain, University of Nevada, Reno, says only “sustained, independently-verifiable changes-and probably some large settlements” will repair Roblox’s image.
Key Takeaways
- Chat is now gated by a 3-D face scan in every Roblox market
- The scan deletes itself after sorting you into an age band
- Critics want independent audits and stronger default controls
- Twitch is testing a similar scan, but only in England so far
Love it or hate it, the selfie gate is here; no scan, no chat.
