Roblox agrees to boost child safety after Australia regulator tests

Investing.com -- Roblox entered into a court-enforceable agreement with Australia's internet regulator to strengthen protections against grooming and sexual exploitation of children on its platform. The move follows testing that revealed gaps in the gaming company's existing safety measures.

The eSafety Commissioner announced Thursday that its testing found adults could send connection requests to young Australian children on Roblox without parental consent. Children and adults were also able to interact on forums outside games without parental approval. The tests showed that children's connections, profiles and other information remained visible to other users.

Under the agreement, Roblox has three months to implement several safety measures. The company must prevent adults from contacting unknown children without parental consent and make children's accounts private by default. The platform is also required to improve its systems for reporting complaints and notifying users of outcomes.

The San Mateo, California-based company must hire an independent third-party auditor to evaluate the effectiveness of its safety measures, including its age-estimation technology. The regulator said this marks the first time it has required an external safety audit from a technology company.

"Roblox cannot mark their own homework," eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in a statement.

The regulator can apply to the Federal Court for a compliance order if Roblox breaches the undertaking. The agreement represents a step in the eSafety Commissioner's efforts to enforce Australia's child-safety rules, which include a ban on social media for children under 16.

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