Roblox exec says ticking a box for age verification is ‘not enough anymore’

Roblox’s vice president of safety product policy, Eliza Jacobs, told NBC News that Roblox is “optimistic” that its new facial age estimation tech will “continue to get better,” saying, “Ticking a box to say you’re 13 or older, it’s not enough anymore.” NBC invited a group of kids to try out Roblox’s new video selfie age check process, but they weren’t able to get around it with a fake mustache. Jacobs claims Roblox’s facial age estimates can typically land “within 1.4 years of a child’s exact age.”

Roblox announced plans in April to begin using its video selfie age estimation tech to sort players into age brackets. Users under 16 and under 9 are now sorted into Roblox Select and Kids accounts, respectively, with restricted access to chat and certain types of games. Players can also use a government ID to verify their age, or parents can manually set their child’s age group.

In April, Roblox reported a drop in daily users after rolling out age checks. However, Jacobs stood by the platform’s age verification measures, saying, “We have a long-term vision of safety and civility on the platform that we’re building towards that we believe in.” She added, “It’s OK if some people are not always happy about that.”