Australia takes action against Roblox over child safety concerns: Here’s what to know

Australia’s internet regulator has reportedly secured a court-enforceable undertaking from Roblox to improve child safety measures tests found adult strangers could still breach protective safeguards introduced by the world’s biggest gaming platform.

The agreement marks a sign of progress for the eSafety Commissioner as it intends to exercise its regulatory authority to make online platforms comply with Australia’s child safety rules imposed for children under 16.

According to eSafety, testing results found that adults could still send connection requests to young children on Roblox without parental approval and that children and adults could interact on independent forum access outside games without parental consent.

It was observed that children’s connections are open to view or known by others. Given the security of the situation, the regulator gave Roblox three months to implement steps to halt adults from contacting unknown children without parental consent. 

It is crucial to make children’s accounts private by default, streamlining complaint management and notify users of outcomes.

The statement from eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said: “Roblox cannot mark their own homework.”

The regulator further said that if Roblox breaches the current agreement, it can apply to the Federal Court for a government ruling as well as seek other orders.

In addition, a Roblox spokesperson asserted that the platform remains committed to the commitments made to eSafety over the past year, adding that they will continue to work together to achieve our shared goals of keeping Australian children safe online across all platforms.