Roblox: Age Verification Trials

In 2023, Roblox implemented an age verification system based on selfies and artificial intelligence from the company Persona to restrict children's access to adult content. However, in practice, it has proven highly vulnerable—many children bypass it through simple manipulations, using hand-drawn images, photos of parents, authentic or fake documents, and even pictures of animals, leading to incorrect age assessments. When directly asked, "How do children cheat Roblox age verification?", Reddit users share examples where a young user was assigned an age of 21 after drawing a mustache and neck, while a 23-year-old adult was categorized as 13–17 years old. The Liveness-Detection system is insufficiently reliable: static images pass through easily.

Experts call such failures a "complete failure" of AI effectiveness, even as millions of dollars are invested in developing and testing the system. On the online market, "verified" accounts are already being sold for small amounts of money. In response, Roblox has activated parental controls and restricted adult chats, but parents still need to provide constant supervision. Given Belarus's legally established obligation to protect children from harmful content, parents must fully utilize the combination of Roblox tools immediately and not rely solely on AI.

The discussion about how children are protected in digital spaces has become increasingly relevant recently. And although digital safety still primarily depends on the current approach.

Context

Roblox, a major multiplayer gaming platform, launched a new age verification mechanism in collaboration with companies Persona and 3Safe in 2023. Prior attempts to restrict minors' access had been made, but they yielded no significant results.