Roblox rolls out mandatory facial age checks for in-game chat worldwide

• The system groups users into age bands to support age-appropriate communication.
• Children under nine require parental consent to access chat features.
• Users aged 13 and older can expand chat access through Roblox’s Trusted Connections feature.

Roblox has begun rolling out a global age-check requirement for in-game chat in an effort to make facial age estimation mandatory for users. 

The company said that the feature, which first launched in select regions in December last year, is now expanding worldwide and applies wherever chat features are available on the platform. 

Roblox users will receive in-app prompts asking them to complete an age check before they can chat with others. 

Moreover, the company claimed it is the first large online games platform to require facial age checks for users of all ages in order to access chat. 

Early adoption 

Under the system, users are grouped into age bands, with chat generally limited to users within the same or adjacent groups. Parental consent is required for users under nine, while users aged 13 and older can expand who they chat with through a Trusted Connections feature.

Roblox said that in Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands, where age checks have been required since early December, more than 50% of daily active users have completed the process.

The company stressed that privacy remains central to the system, noting that images and video used for facial age estimation are deleted immediately after processing. 

Furthermore, the rollout enables age-based chat, designed to limit communication between adults and children younger than 16 and promote age-appropriate interactions. 

Looking ahead, the company plans to require age checks for creators accessing real-time collaboration features in Roblox Studio, alongside upcoming updates to its community policies.