Roblox Requires Age Verification to Chat in January

Roblox will require facial age checks for users who want to enter its chat platform, a move it hopes will increase oversight and control of conversation on the app, which is popular with teenagers. The company will also separate chat by age, in an effort to prevent grooming and other abuses on one of the internet’s largest social gaming platforms.

What Is Changing in Roblox’s New Age-Verified Chat

To access Roblox text and voice chat, users will also need to take a selfie-based age estimation test from within the app. If you fail the check, chat is not available to you. Roblox will also auto-divide users into different age groups, matching conversations to occur only within their own band or bands they are compatible with, in order to preclude unknown adult-minor contact.

The company says that should go beyond prompts to enter a birth date at sign-up, which are easy for users to fake. By gating chat with age estimation, Roblox is trying to better match how users behave with how old they seem to be in reality, not what they say they are.

How Roblox’s New Facial Age Checker for Chat Works

Users are asked to turn on their camera and then follow the on-screen instructions for liveness and face capture. Roblox says that the process is handled through a third-party verification provider called Persona, which takes an estimate of your age from a selfie and then discards the selfies as well as any video after processing. Roblox says it will also scrub any captured images once the check is completed.

That’s age estimation, not a government ID check. The system looks at facial features to approximate an age range, which many online platforms are implementing to minimize friction while still upholding age rules. Accuracy can be affected by lighting, camera quality, and demographic factors, so the company will be under scrutiny for differential error rates and appeal paths.

Understanding Roblox’s New Age-Based Chat Tiers

Roblox is categorizing users into six age groups: under 9, 9–12, 13–15, 16–17, 18–20, and 21+. A 12-year-old user, for instance, will be assigned to the 9–12 band and only be able to chat with those up to age 15. Those considered to be 16 and above will not be able to message them either.

This tiering is designed to keep peer-to-peer social play intact while limiting exposure to unknown adults. It also offers Roblox the flexibility to change interaction rules as safety signals change.

Rollout Timeline for Roblox’s Age-Verified Chat

Roblox is unveiling optional age checks ahead of regulations implementing them. Early next month, the company will begin requiring age checks for chat in certain countries — Australia, the Netherlands, and New Zealand were singled out — even if a user is not affected by those regulations. Enforcement goes global in January, when chat access will depend on having completed an age check.

Why Roblox Is Tightening Safety and Requiring Checks

The change comes in response to increasing legal and regulatory pressure over child safety. Several state attorneys general, including some from Texas and Louisiana, have sued the company, and advocacy groups have repeatedly warned of a spectrum of potential dangers, from grooming to explicit content. Regulators around the world, from European authorities upholding the Digital Services Act to UK standards dictating how platforms should mitigate systemic risks to children via the Age-Appropriate Design Code, are putting pressure on platforms to address harms specifically related to minors.

Roblox has frequently maintained that tooling and moderation, as well as parental controls, are the keys to safety. Mandatory age estimation is a significant escalation—an explicit effort to confirm, not speculate about who might be using social features.

Privacy and Compliance Stakes of Facial Age Checks

Facial age estimation is a sensitive area. Some locales have ruled that data mined from faces is biometric information, and thus subject to strict regulations regarding consent, storage, and deletion. Laws like the Biometric Information Privacy Act in Illinois have spawned lawsuits across industries, and making mistakes on retention or transparency could be expensive.

Both Roblox and Persona, according to the company, will delete the captured images after checks are done, and the company intends to add clear disclosures in its Safety Center. Robust independent audits, transparent retention schedules, and sharp parental controls will be critical to gain trust, especially in families skeptical of biometric gadgets.

How These Changes Affect Roblox Players and Creators

The most significant change players will notice has to do with friction: you have to finish that check before you can chat. There also could be some drag in verifying, at least for some users — especially on older devices or those with less camera access — meaning chat activity could slow down for a brief period. Conversely, limiting interactions between adults and minors in open chat could serve to make younger players (and their guardians) more comfortable engaging over time.

Developers of mixed-age communities might need to think through adjusting onboarding, in-experience messaging, and moderation flows for segmented chat.

Anticipate even more dependence on in-experience prompts, managed communication tools, and safety-by-default design choices to maintain seamless cooperation between age bands.

A New Roblox Safety Center and Tools for Families

As part of the rollout, Roblox is launching a Safety Center that compiles advice, tools, and an overview of how to set up parental controls. Having a one-stop shop to manage interaction limits, chat access, and reporting could help caregivers figure out the new system and enable them to understand what age-based chat means for their child’s experience.

What to Watch Next as Roblox’s Age Checks Roll Out

They can track some key signals, though: how many people end up getting verified; the percentage of users who are subsequently gated off from chat; whether there’s a way to appeal when someone is wrongly classified as underage; and if reports for grooming or policy violations go down. Transparency reports with measurable numbers — not just stories — will be crucial to determine impact.

With tens of millions of daily players and many of them children, even small advances in safety tooling can make major waves. If Roblox succeeds at accuracy, privacy protections, and ease of use, required age verification could become the new threshold for chat on youth-dominated platforms — and a model that others are pressured to follow.