Roblox faces Australian child safety audits and enforcement actions
Consensus Summary
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has secured a court-enforceable undertaking from Roblox to improve child safety protections after tests revealed adults could still contact children without parental consent. Both sources confirm Roblox has three months to implement changes, including making children’s accounts private by default, improving reporting systems, and hiring an independent auditor to assess safety measures. The Guardian notes that 1.7 million Australian children use Roblox, while the ABC highlights that Roblox previously made nine commitments in September to address safety concerns. The ABC also mentions Roblox was put 'on notice' earlier this year, a detail not repeated in the Guardian. Both agree Roblox has made some progress, but eSafety warns of potential court action if the company fails to comply.
✓ Verified by 2+ sources
Key details reported by multiple sources:
- Roblox was given three months to address key safety issues, including preventing adults from contacting unknown children without parental consent
- Roblox must hire an independent third-party auditor to assess its safety measures, including age-estimation technology
- Roblox’s changes include making children’s accounts private by default and improving reporting systems for complaints
- eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant stated Roblox cannot 'mark their own homework' regarding safety measures
- Roblox acknowledged delivering on safety commitments to eSafety in the past year
- About 1.7 million Australian children use Roblox
Points of Difference
Details reported by only one source:
- eSafety released a statement earlier this year putting Roblox 'on notice' over child safety
- Last September, Roblox told eSafety it was putting in place nine specific commitments designed to keep children safe
- Roblox stated it had 'delivered on the commitments we made to eSafety over the last 12 months'
- Children’s connections, profiles, and other information were visible to other users on Roblox
- In December last year, Roblox rolled out changes to limit children’s ability to speak to adults, including disabling direct chat by default for under-16s
- Roblox was excluded from Australia’s under-16s social media ban last year as gaming platforms were not covered
- eSafety raised concerns Roblox may not be compliant with codes under the Online Safety Act
- Roblox’s age restrictions for voice chat were tightened to match those for users aged 12 and under
Contradictions
Conflicting information between sources:
- The ABC states Roblox was put 'on notice' earlier this year, while the Guardian does not mention this specific timeline
- The ABC references 'nine specific commitments' made by Roblox in September, but the Guardian does not mention this number or date
Source Articles
Roblox to face external audits to prove it's safe for Australian children
Australia's eSafety Commissioner will be able to take the gaming platform to court if it finds Roblox is not honouring its commitments to keep Australian children safe.
Roblox commits to privacy overhaul after eSafety discovers adults can contact children via gaming platform
Regulator says verifiable safety measures are ‘critical’ to the online service’s viability Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Roblox has committed to making changes to its online gaming platform after Australia’s eSafety commissioner discovered adults were still able to see child accounts and send connection requests without parental consent. The company has provided a legal agreement to the online safety regulator after testing earlier this year also revealed children