Highlights
- Roblox is rolling out mandatory facial age checks for in-game chat worldwide.
- Roblox age-based chat limits adult-child interaction, with parental consent required for younger users.
- More than 50% of daily users completed checks in early rollout regions.
Roblox has begun rolling out mandatory facial age checks for in-game chat worldwide, requiring users to verify their age before they can communicate with others. The requirement, first introduced in select regions in early December 2025, is now expanding globally wherever chat features are available, with in-app prompts appearing across regions over the next week.
Roblox said it is the first large online gaming platform to require facial age estimation for users of all ages to access chat.
Describing the rollout as “our next step toward what we believe will be the gold standard for communication safety,” the company noted that the system is intended to limit interaction between adults and children younger than 16 while supporting age-appropriate conversations.
Under the framework, users are placed into age bands, with chat generally limited to those in the same or adjacent groups. Parental consent is required for children under the age of nine.
Users aged 13 and older can broaden their chat access through Roblox’s Trusted Connections feature, which allows communication beyond their immediate age group.
Roblox Age-Based Chat System and Safety Rationale
Roblox confirmed early adoption data from Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands, where age checks have been mandatory since early December 2025, shows that more than 50% of daily active users in those markets have completed the process. The company added that tens of millions of daily active users worldwide have already finished an age check.
According to Roblox, privacy protections are central to the system, with images and videos used for facial age estimation deleted immediately after processing. The platform does not allow image sharing through chat and uses automated systems to block attempts to exchange personally identifiable information between users who are not Trusted Connections.
Roblox
The facial age estimation technology is provided by Persona and has been tested by third-party laboratories, which state that the models achieved a mean absolute error of 1.4 years for users under 18 under the U.K.’s Age Check Certification Scheme. Users can appeal outcomes and verify their age through alternatives such as ID verification or parental controls.
The company claimed future updates will expand age verification requirements to certain creator tools, including real-time collaboration features in Roblox Studio. This will be alongside planned revisions to its community policies aimed at strengthening age-based safeguards across the platform.
