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A gaming platform popular with kids, Roblox, commits to Australian child safety measures by the end of 2025.
Popular gaming and content creation platform Roblox has agreed to introduce a new raft of safety measures to bring its in-game experience in line with Australia’s “world-leading online safety codes and standards”.
The new measures are expected to be in place by the end of the year and will include setting new accounts for players under 16 to private by default and introducing online tools to prevent adult players from interacting with under-16s unless approved by a parent or carer.
Other features will be switched off by default, such as direct chat, and parental controls will also be introduced.
“We know that when it comes to platforms that are popular with children, they also become popular with adult predators seeking to prey on them,” Julie Inman Grant said in a 15 September statement.
“Roblox is no exception and has become a popular target for paedophiles seeking to groom children.
“We’ve been engaging with Roblox on this issue for several months to make it clear to the platform that under Australian law, they are required to take meaningful action to prioritise the protection of children.”
Inman Grant said that some of Roblox’s newer or soon-to-be-released features, such as short-form video feeds and dating, were particularly concerning and that the platform needed to demonstrate the compliance of these add-ons.
“I have recently met with senior Roblox executives in person, including their chief legal officer and chief safety officer, to outline our compliance concerns and what we as the regulator expect of them when it comes to tackling harms as serious as grooming, sexual extortion and other forms of child sexual exploitation. I am pleased to see them come to the table with these new safety commitments,” Inman Grant said.
“It also demonstrates the potential of these world-leading codes and standards to have a transformative effect on the online industry when it comes to protecting children from the most egregious harms. We want platforms to view safety as a high ceiling rather than a dirt floor with companies doing more than just the bare minimum.”
eSafety will monitor the rollout of the new features closely and will keep regulatory action in mind if Roblox is slow to deliver.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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