Daily London
Controversial online gaming platform ROBLOX has introduced age verification, using facial age estimation to limit access to player-to-player chat to the age group of the user.
Despite not being listed as a social media platform and not required to limit users under the upcoming social media minimum age legislation, ROBLOX has been in talks with Australia’s eSafety Commissioner regarding their need to comply with the Online Safety Act which requires services to take meaningful action to prioritise the protection of children.
Roblox has introduced a new process for age estimation which uses a device’s camera to perform a scan of a users face, not dissimilar to what you do to setup face unlock on a smartphone – and using that scan to estimate the user’s age.
Data including photos and videos used during the scan is deleted immediately after the process, at which time an estimated age is presented to the user.
Each user is then limited to online chat only with others in their same age group, be that 9-12, 13-15, 16-17, 18-20, or 21+.
For families or siblings, it will be possible to chat across age groups, only with real-world connections, verified through a QR code, or by confirming each user has a mobile number saved as a contact for each other in their phone.
Starting today all users can voluntarily go through the age estimation process, but as of the first week of December the age-check will be required in Australia, expanding globally early in the new year.
