Roblox has announced that it will block communication between minors and unknown adults by introducing mandatory facial verification for access to chat features. This measure comes in response to criticism regarding the safety of children on the platform, being the first implementation of its kind on a major gaming platform.
Currently, Roblox has over 80 million daily players, of which 40% are under 13 years old. Facial verification will begin in Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands in December, and will be expanded globally in January. Users will be grouped by age and will only be able to communicate with others in the same category, except in cases where they add someone as a 'trusted contact'. Users' images will be processed by an external provider and deleted immediately after verification. Roblox hopes that the new system will provide a safer and age-appropriate experience for all users.
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