Roblox’s Latest Child Safety Updates Include Age Limits and Screen Time Limits

Roblox is making more changes to make its gaming platform a safer place for its youngest and most vulnerable users. Today’s changes include remote parental controls, new content labels, and limiting direct messaging capabilities.

Roblox first announced that it would release an update parental controls set In October, parents will now be able to manage their children’s accounts from their own devices and accounts. Within these controls, parents can set daily screen time limits and view their child’s friends list. Parents will need connection Roblox accounts with their children’s accounts. New content labels based on content, not age, will help parents understand different elements (such as violence, strong language, etc.) in different games or experiences. Players under 9 will automatically be limited to games with minimal or moderate amounts of these elements, but parents will also be able to manually choose which tags their kids can see and play.

New age limits will also be implemented to limit younger players’ ability to chat with other users. Players under 13 will only be able to chat with other players in games or experiences; Other direct messaging capabilities will be disabled. The games will also feature a new default setting that limits these younger users to general broadcast messages only.

Recently, the gaming platform has faced increased scrutiny over its child protection measures. Investigations conducted by law enforcement and news organizations have identified alarming cases. Predators use Roblox to target childrenwith a lawsuit filed alleging illegal gambling on the platform. This is a big deal for a platform primarily targeted at young children; According to Bloomberg’s report, more than 40% of its 78 million users are teenagers.

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Earlier this month, the company introduced new changes that said children under the age of 13 would not be able to access the social Hangout elements that Roblox offers in the games. in question “includes live games, clubs, socializing and supportive spaces where the main theme or purpose of the experience is to communicate with other users as yourself (e.g. via text or voice chat).” It also prevents younger players from accessing freeform creation tools. Players under the age of 13 will not be able to access these interactive features in the games as of Monday, November 18. These restrictions do not include role-playing games or real-life simulations that allow the player to assume another character or identity.

Roblox is also changing its default setting to prevent players under 13 from accessing unrated games. The company says games without these ratings, which often indicate violence, blood and other sensitive content, will not be searchable or playable for players under 13. Developers will have until December 3 to fill out a survey for each experience. They want players under the age of 13 to be able to access it and let Roblox know what kind of experience they offer so a rating can be given. Creators who do not complete the survey will have their experiences labeled as unrated and subsequently become unplayable for teenagers.