In recent years, several accounts have surfaced claiming that the popular gaming app targeting preteens, known as Roblox, does not have adequate safeguards to protect children who surf through grooming, explicit material, and violent or abusive material.

Roblox will exclude all players younger than 13 years from unprefixed experiences. Free-form 2D user creation will also no longer provide social groups and experiences that can expose users to certain hazardous experiences because those offer the ability to communicate with other gamers, who can say terrible phrases, and interactive experiences in which users can doodle or write inside the experience.

By default, the platform said in a post to creators on Wednesday, kids aged 12 years old and younger will no longer be able to "play, search, and discover unrated experiences." But Roblox is requiring creators to fill out a questionnaire if they want their experience to be available to kids under 13. And as of now, creators must ensure that their experience meets either "All Ages" or "9+" recommendations, notably still containing "mild violence, heavy unrealistic blood, and/or mild crude humor," according to its support page. However, kid accounts under 13 aren't supposed to have any gambling content.

Roblox said it will start enforcing the terms in 2023. Fill out the form by December 3. The questionnaire is found under the Creations tab in the Creator Hub. Then select "Select an Experience" and "Audience.

In addition, children under 13 years are not allowed to join social hangouts, which would be a response to persistent safety concerns in such an activity, which have also been criticized for serious oversight problems. Indeed, one author in the forum said, "Kinda sad, but with the amount of … issues in some of these [social hangout] games, I totally understand this."

In addition to this, younger users will not be able to access experiences involving free-form 2D user creation, where players can create copies of another user's drawings without going through Roblox moderation. This will begin November 18.

Roblox has also included in the list of experiences those which are suitable for this age, including role-playing experiences, where one can dress up like a teacher, police officer, or even a race car driver or interact with things. Experiences that include 3D assets approved by Roblox moderation are also okay, so young children can still build houses with blocks, design outfits, and short videos.

New safety features follow the platform's decision to implement a practice of obtaining parental consent before children under 13 can access specific chat capabilities. Those under 9 years of age will need their parents' consent to play experiences that have a medium content label.

Roblox is also in the pilot phase of an age-verification program that checks for over 13 years old, including government-issued photo ID.