Screenshot by Destructoid
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Two days after Roblox launched a brand new age verification course of throughout all platforms, the outcomes are creating issues for a lot of customers.
On Jan. 7, Roblox made “facial age checks” a requirement to talk on the sport, requiring you to make use of a digital camera and scan your face to make use of any chat characteristic. It should then offer you an age estimate primarily based on what it sees, shaping your chat expertise and defining who you may and can’t work together with.
One of many issues with the characteristic, at the very least on the outset, is that it appears to come back to incorrect conclusions. In lots of circumstances, it’s overestimating the age of kids after which putting them right into a bracket the place they’ll chat with customers deemed older than them.
“As the primary giant on-line gaming platform to require facial age checks for customers of all ages to entry chat, this implementation is our subsequent step towards what we imagine would be the gold commonplace for communication security,” Roblox mentioned on Jan. 7. “It permits age-based chat, which promotes a optimistic, age-appropriate expertise for all customers globally, and limits communication between adults and kids youthful than 16.”
Roblox mentioned that “tens of thousands and thousands of day by day energetic customers” accomplished an age verify because the characteristic was rolled out in Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands in early December earlier than being broadly carried out this week. However the outcomes since then are fairly spotty.
One mom from the US informed me that the sport estimated her 10-year-old daughter was 16 years previous. The brand new facial age verify will overwrite no matter precise age the mother or father entered within the first place, and the data can solely be corrected by then scanning some type of identification.
“Even when [my child] had an ID, I wouldn’t scan hers into their system to right it,” she informed me. “The age verification course of usually leading to younger youngsters being positioned in older age teams defeats the aim of making an attempt to maintain them secure on-line.”
And should you encounter comparable errors or misidentification and need to attempt to right the error by way of Roblox assist, it then requires interesting by layers of AI brokers earlier than ever reaching a human who can repair it.
“I (37) prefer to play Roblox with my son (10) fairly often,” one other Reddit submit mentioned. “I simply age-verified each our accounts and now I can’t even chat to my very own baby in-game? Why the frick are Trusted Connections solely accessible for 13-plus? We spend a lot on this sport over time and now it takes away my skill to speak to my very own baby?”
Roblox has come beneath heavy scrutiny over the previous few years for being a “breeding floor for predators,” in response to the Florida lawyer normal, amongst a number of comparable probes. Final month, the sport was utterly blocked in Russia for “LGBT propaganda.”
These new safety measures look to be making an attempt to maintain youngsters secure from nefarious customers, however their implementation thus far is leaving so much to be desired for a lot of, inflicting frustration for youths and oldsters alike.
I attempted out the facial scan on a brand new account myself, and it appropriately recognized me as “21 or older.” However the RobloxHelp Reddit web page is overflowing with complaints from many who’re reporting points with the tech, which appears to be largely AI-powered.
Destructoid has reached out to Roblox for touch upon this story.
Replace on Jan. 9 at 1:35pm CT: Roblox has responded to the article stating that “customers can attraction their age verify not solely with ID verification but additionally parental controls, which permit mother and father to replace their baby’s age.”
Extra tales and complaints of facial age verify points have been steadily showing on Reddit all through the day.
Revealed: Jan 9, 2026 01:37 pm