Australia requires Roblox to strengthen child safety measures

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has secured a court-enforceable agreement requiring Roblox to strengthen protections for children within three months. The agreement follows concerns that the platform had failed to meet certain obligations under Australia’s Online Safety Act.

Tests conducted by the regulator identified several issues, including insufficient restrictions on contact between adults and children under 16 and the failure to make children’s accounts private by default. The regulator also raised concerns that contact requests from adults did not trigger parental notifications.

Under the agreement, Roblox will introduce measures to restrict unwanted adult-to-child contact, make children’s accounts private by default, simplify the process for reporting unwanted contact and provide users with information about the outcome of their reports.

Roblox has maintained that it was complying with Australian law, but agreed to implement the additional measures. The case highlights the increasing regulatory focus on child safety in online gaming and other digital environments, particularly regarding contact between adults and minors and the use of safety-by-default settings.