When a child begs to play Roblox, parents often assume it’s harmless. They hear it’s wildly popular with classmates. And those blocky cartoon characters often lead parents to assume it’s a safe game for kids.

In reality, Roblox is not a single game, but a massive, user-generated platform hosting millions of varied “experiences.” Much like a YouTube for gaming, the content varies widely in what’s appropriate for children. Illicit worlds encourage users to simulate sexual violence or predatory behaviors on other players.

Roblox rolled out child-safety features earlier this year only after immense public pressure and hundreds of lawsuits. Yet these don’t address many of the risks kids still face, like predators, pressure to spend virtual currency (Robux), and addictive design tricks that keep them hooked.

Do Roblox’s new age checks do enough?

Users must now complete an age check before accessing communication features. This is done by either facial age estimation or government-issued ID verification for those 13 and over.

Once verified, users can communicate with others in the same age group. Ages 5-8 are placed in Roblox Kids, where the chat is disabled by default, though parents can enable it. Ages 9-15 are grouped into Roblox Select, and those 16+ are grouped into standard Roblox.

I understand why that sounds reassuring. Parents want to believe the adults have been separated from the children.

However, accuracy is a real concern. Facial estimation only verifies the apparent age of the face presented at one moment. It can’t guarantee that the same person will continue using the account.

Roblox may ask users to repeat the check if it detects a discrepancy, but parents are still left with an important question: Is the person chatting with my child actually the person whose face or ID Roblox checked?

I’m privileged to interface with concerned parents regularly in my work at Defend Young Minds. When it comes to age verification, many parents have reported that their children were assigned to incorrect age groups. One mother shared a Roblox notice saying her 13-year-old’s account had been unlinked from hers because the platform considered him an adult. Her parental controls disappeared with it. Another shared that her teen was estimated as six years old.

Some parents, uncomfortable submitting a child’s face or ID, used their own faces instead, unintentionally pushing the child’s account into an adult category. Parents are being asked to choose between two risks: hand over a child’s facial data or ID, or refuse and potentially leave the account in the wrong age group.

Even when the age is correct, children can still chat with strangers. An age label doesn’t make a stranger safe. And mature games still evade content moderation and appear in Roblox Kids.

Not surprisingly, the new system has created a digital black market for verified accounts.

Sellers group accounts by specific age groups and sell them for a few dollars on illicit forums or e-commerce sites like eBay. While eBay prohibits and removes these listings, some still slip past content moderation due to crafty listings. This allows an adult predator to buy an account already categorized as a minor, completely bypassing age-restricted chat filters. Many online forums provide tutorials on how to find these listings.

Remember, these reactive safeguards were added to a platform whose basic design was already exposing children to risk. Age groups don’t change that. Let’s take a closer look at these dangers.

Predators can enter your child’s play space

Most parents would never invite an unknown adult into their child’s bedroom or playdate. Yet online gaming can create the digital equivalent.

Roblox’s social features serve as a hunting ground for predators, who use in-game interactions to groom children before moving conversations to unmonitored apps such as Discord or Snapchat. This progression can lead to requests for personal information and nude images, often using Robux as bait. From there, the child may face threats, sextortion, or requests to meet in person, putting them at risk of assault or even physical abduction.

David Gomez, a former police officer who has spent years working with children and families, has seen this firsthand.

“I’ve personally arrested predators in their 30s and older who had multiple Roblox accounts for the sole purpose of finding and grooming children,” he warned. He has also responded to cases involving children as young as eight who were befriended on Roblox and then lured onto other apps.

User-created content can turn sexual or disturbing

Roblox prohibits sexual content. However, the sheer volume of user-created and altered content makes moderation difficult.

Children can encounter violent material, bullying, or coded communication intended to evade filters. For example, players can type on signs (like public billboards) in real time and avoid chat filters. Kids can easily encounter sexually explicit avatar behavior and illicit “condo” games built around simulated sexual activity.

Pornography doesn’t stop being pornography because the bodies are blocky or animated.

One reason I wrote the “Good Pictures Bad Pictures” read-aloud books was to give children the ability to recognize pornography and the vocabulary to report it before exposure happens. Kids can learn a simple definition of pornography, a warning of why it’s dangerous, and a plan to stay safe that includes telling a trusted adult.

Robux turns play into pressure to spend

Furthermore, the platform operates as a marketplace driven by aggressive monetization. Its business model pressures children into spending Robux, which costs real money, by making them feel excluded or unsuccessful if they don’t buy clothing, abilities, or upgrades.

Officer Gomez has responded to homes where children have spent thousands of dollars before parents realized it. One 10-year-old memorized his father’s debit-card information and bought add-ons while he slept.

Addictive design

Roblox never really ends. Many games have no natural stopping point. There is always another experience, reward, purchase, or limited event. Coveted items awarded during gameplay, or drops, happen at odd hours to keep players constantly watchful. Randomized rewards can begin to feel a lot like slot machines.

Gomez has taken 911 calls involving children screaming, breaking things, or making threats when told to log off.

Even if Roblox’s age-safety controls worked perfectly, parents still face a platform designed to keep children playing, spending, and returning.

What can parents do?

I believe the wiser choice is a smaller, private environment, like Minecraft Realms, limited to people parents actually know. Or an offline game that offers fun without constant internet access or communication with strangers.

Parents who permit Roblox need to be prepared for a lot of oversight. They should play alongside their children, link and secure the parent account, restrict chat and spending, keep devices in shared spaces, establish firm stopping times, and review the controls regularly.

Teach children to reject requests for secrecy, personal information, and pictures. And make this rule nonnegotiable: Never, ever move a chat onto another app without a parent’s knowledge and permission.

Predators depend on access, secrecy, and a child’s reluctance to tell. With these steps, parents can interrupt all three.

Roblox’s new safeguards may reduce some dangers, but they don’t replace parental judgment. Or the wisdom to decide that Roblox just isn’t worth the risk.

***

Kristen A. Jenson, MA, is the founder of Defend Young Minds and the author of the bestselling Good Pictures Bad Pictures series of read-aloud books that help parents talk with their kids about pornography and build healthy digital habits. She has spent years equipping families to protect children in a screen-saturated world.

This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

Menu

The Hidden Dangers Of Kids’ Favorite Game

The Dangerous Myth Putting America’s Daughters At Risk