From next month it will start enforcing facial age estimation to allow children to chat with strangers only if they are in their broad age group.
Roblox compared its new system to school cohorts such as elementary, middle school and high school. It will be introduced first in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands, where children will be blocked from privately chatting with adults they do not know in real life from next month, and in the rest of the world in early January.
Users will be placed into the following groups: under nine, nine to 12, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, 18 to 20, or 21 and over. Children will be able to chat only with others in their age group and similar ones. For example, a child with an estimated age of 12 will be able to chat only with under-16s. Images and video used for the checks would not be stored, Roblox said.
How are they talking to people? My kid either hasn’t figured it out or doesn’t give a shit. But he doesn’t really talk except for IRL friends on discord.
I think that if a kid can’t read then they are generally safe from the worst of grooming honestly.
I mean, like I said, there were a lot of inappropriate situations I witnessed which made me uncomfortable besides just what was said in chat.
This is why I don’t let my kids play. It wasn’t just the chat.
Also, once a kiddo hits 13 they can voice chat. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what happens next.
For me, personally, it is a hard no. If you supervise your children constantly then it is probably somewhat safe… That is not really reassuring is it?