Roblox launched major update to parental controls

Roblox Corp. has announced a set of new controls that will help parents manage who and how their children communicate with on the popular video game platform. This is another step in response to public concerns about the safety of younger users, Bloomberg reports.

What options are there for parents of children who play Roblox?

Today, April 2, it will be possible to set restrictions on whom a child can interact with, as well as track the most frequently used games. If necessary, parents will be able to block access to certain games that they deem inappropriate for their child.

"In developing parental controls, we prioritize transparency and ease of use to make it as simple as possible for parents to implement them," said Roblox Chief Safety Officer Matt Kaufman in a statement.

He also added that regardless of the activation of these settings, the safety of the youngest players remains the company's top priority.

According to the company, in 2024 Roblox has already released 40 different updates aimed at improving safety. Among the most notable is an innovation announced in November that prohibits children under 13 from entering so-called "social gatherings": virtual clubs or forums.

Last July, Bloomberg Businessweek published an article about the difficulties the company faces in dealing with cases of online predation on its platform. Since 2018, US police have arrested more than two dozen people accused of abusing or abducting victims they met or groomed on Roblox.

Former and current employees of the company emphasize that it is very difficult to keep track of more than 90 million daily users. The situation is further complicated by the fact that about 40% of Roblox users in 2024 were under the age of 13.

Earlier, TikTok has launched new features to protect teens in its app. Parents will now be able to block their children from using the social network during certain hours, as well as view lists of their subscribers using the new feature.

Also, we wrote about basic phones and smartphones for children — which is better and how to choose.