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submitted 2 weeks ago by simple@piefed.social to c/games@lemmy.world

From next month it will start enforcing facial age estimation to allow children to chat with strangers only if they are in their broad age group.

Roblox compared its new system to school cohorts such as elementary, middle school and high school. It will be introduced first in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands, where children will be blocked from privately chatting with adults they do not know in real life from next month, and in the rest of the world in early January.

Users will be placed into the following groups: under nine, nine to 12, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, 18 to 20, or 21 and over. Children will be able to chat only with others in their age group and similar ones. For example, a child with an estimated age of 12 will be able to chat only with under-16s. Images and video used for the checks would not be stored, Roblox said.

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[-] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 168 points 2 weeks ago

From next month it will start enforcing facial age estimation to allow children to chat with strangers only if they are in their broad age group.

This is going to backfire spectacularly, what idiots.

[-] Carmakazi@piefed.social 94 points 2 weeks ago

Right on its face, is it even legal to collect head shots of minors? I know US privacy laws are a joke but there's usually some carve outs that protect minors.

[-] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 79 points 2 weeks ago

It's illegal to collect ANY data from children under 13. Facial scans are WAY worse than the anonymized use stats those laws were put in place to block

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[-] meco03211@lemmy.world 34 points 2 weeks ago

Can't protect them too much, though. Otherwise, how would the pedo-in-chief and his ilk get a fresh crop of sex slaves?

[-] pivot_root@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago

No, no. It makes perfect sense from an investment standpoint. Their actual target audience would love to be able to pay for access to that catalog.

[-] dil@piefed.zip 7 points 2 weeks ago

Ais gonna be like you look mature for your age putting ppl higher or lower

[-] lilas105@ttrpg.network 6 points 2 weeks ago

Gonna be funny when they get hacked and all that info leaks.

[-] rtxn@lemmy.world 87 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Problem: the game is getting a notoriety for being infested by pedophiles and the developers are actively protecting them.

Solution: send your photographs to the game infested by pedophiles to prove you are a real child!

Fucking. Incredible. If this was written in a manuscript, it would be tossed for being too cartoonishly unrealistic.

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[-] Gullible@sh.itjust.works 43 points 2 weeks ago
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[-] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 36 points 2 weeks ago

See, what I figured out is that I don't have to let my son play Roblox. Sure, he might be the "weird" one who's dad doesn't let him. But he was going to be "weird" anyway. That's just how our lives work.

Plus you have AuADHD, having it myself, it makes you vulnerable to predators in ways you can't understand yet.

[-] kmartburrito@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago

Hey there's maybe tens of us! Hello fellow reasonable parent!

[-] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago

FINALLY a good parent!

Please have more babies!

[-] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

I would happily have more babies as children are fun.

Unfortunately that requires a partner who values intelligence, child development, learning and desires children. When I find such a unicorn I'll make as many babies as I can reasonably raise (probably like 2 or three more maximum)

[-] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

We play by the same rule, everyone is weird, no judgement for immutable characteristics. Everyone has challenges, life is already hard, no reason to make it harder for someone.

[-] Doomsider@lemmy.world 29 points 2 weeks ago

I don't allow my kids to play it. It sucks, but the reality is the game has been captured by pedos. I saw too many questionable things when I watched them play. Invariably they will be unsupervised at some point, even for brief periods, so it is not worth the risk.

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[-] Broadfern@lemmy.world 22 points 2 weeks ago

God forbid they just shut down the chat function??? Ffs

[-] nomorebillboards@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago

That would be stupid, many games rely on chat and aren't exclusively played by children

[-] MotoAsh@piefed.social 6 points 2 weeks ago

and? Why do you want to enable pedos?

[-] nomorebillboards@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

This argument is just silly.

>Uses an iOS device

>Wants to be able to install third-party apps

>"Why do you want to be able to allow viruses?"

[-] MotoAsh@piefed.social 9 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

This isn't about sideloading. This is about adults mingling with children on Roblox. Interesting how you miss the point so thoroughly.

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[-] Doomsider@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

You are correct, Pedophiles also play.

[-] blave@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago

So, Roblox is shutting down? The entire thing is a child sex crime, so unless they’re shutting down, nothing has changed

[-] TomMasz@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago
[-] Brewchin@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago

This. Imagine being a company who suddenly has to do the right thing simply because they can't afford the "we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas" approach any more.

Litigation may be an awful substitute for regulation, but at least its having some positive effect here.

Shame about the way they're doing it, though. It's a wet dream for politicians and activists in favour of age verification, and for the hackers who'll inevitability get their hands on all of it.

[-] Eranziel@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Not even "can't afford". They're rolling in money. They merely made the calculation that paying lip service to the problem (and farming their user base for even more data to leverage, count on it) could cost less than future lawsuits.

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[-] atrielienz@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

By asking them to verify their age via selfie. We live in the worst time line.

[-] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 weeks ago

Come on, it's not like anybody can just create a unique selfie of a kid. They'd have to be artists or something. /s

[-] pivot_root@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

Company profiting from allowing pedos to groom children enacts steps to prevent pedos from grooming children? Like that's going to happen.

Whatever solution they come up with, I can guarantee that it "accidentally" has a loophole in it.

[-] lilas105@ttrpg.network 6 points 2 weeks ago

It's funny how we can just browbeat people into doing what we want.

Rules and laws don't matter.

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this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2025
333 points (100.0% liked)

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