What Parents Need to Know About Roblox’s New “Child Accounts”

Among other changes, Roblox is now curating what games kids can play, including removing games featuring "sensitive issues."

Another set of changes are coming for parents with children who are on Roblox, with the platform now following existing trends at places like Instagram, Uber, and others who have youth-targeted accounts. Starting in “early June,” Roblox will now have “Roblox Kids” and “Roblox Select” accounts meant for its most vulnerable audience.

The news was announced via press release earlier today.

“This update will bring age-checks, account-level defaults, content ratings, ongoing moderation, and expanded parental controls together into a unified framework for younger users,” said Roblox founder and CEO David Baszucki in the press release.

“Roblox Kids” is for children between 5 and 8, limits access to games with “minimal” or “mild” maturity labels, and has “all communication” disabled. (Parents can change this.) “Roblox Select” is for children between 9 and 15, uses different communication defaults based on age group (9-12, 13-15), and allows games with “moderate” labels.

Player ages are determined either by Roblox’s relatively new AI-assisted (and unsurprisingly controversial) age check system, or manually set by a verified parent.

(It also remains curiously and frustratingly easy for kids to bypass parental controls.)

An important change: Roblox is now curating the games for “Kids” and “Select” accounts. Though the company says it will still include “thousands” of games that are “dynamically updated,” there is reason to believe games that your children have access to now, even under an account with parental controls, will disappear in the future.

Roblox has not said what games might vanish, but the company said it believes players “will have access to the vast majority of their favorite games at launch.”

“We can't share specific games at this time given the games have not gone through the three-step review process,” said a Roblox spokesperson to Crossplay. “The games available in Roblox Kids and Roblox Select will be a subset of those available on the broader platform, including many of our most popular.”

In other words: we’ll have to wait and see.

Importantly, parents can selectively approve individual games. If Roblox removes a game from the lineup for “Kids” and “Select” accounts, you could re-authorize it.

Here’s a chart from Roblox explaining how the accounts break down:

As a Roblox user gets older, they will shuffle between these different restrictions.

Like many parts of the internet, Roblox also includes games that leverage new AI technologies. So far, the company has not given parents tools to block children from engaging with Roblox games that use AI. Nothing about this update changes that.

Roblox’s explanation for how it’s picking the games for “Kids” and “Select” accounts is a little fuzzy. For example, one pillar is what Roblox calls “real-time evaluation,” where the company watches “how users age 16 and older interact with new games and monitor user reports to assess suitability for younger users.” It’s also going to exclude “games that feature sensitive issues, social hangouts, or free-form drawing games.”

OK, but what’s a “sensitive issue”? Politics? Queerness? Violence? To my surprise, the company did provide a more specific list of topics it considers a “sensitive issue”:

• Immigration

• Capital punishment

• Pay equity in sports

• Prayer in schools

• Racial profiling

• Affirmative action

• Vaccination policies

• Reproductive rights

“This is not a comprehensive or finite list,” said a company spokesperson. “Any issue that meets the above criteria qualifies as a ‘sensitive issue.’ These issues are topics that are frequently in the news and inspire strong opinions and emotional debate. We also understand that what is sensitive varies in different regions.”

However, a parent can turn on individual access to almost anything on the platform. The only hardwired rule is “restricted” content that requires you to be 18 or older.

Is Brookhaven, one of the most popular role-playing games, a “social hangout,” or are we talking about games where players are in a bathroom? Brookhaven is probably safe, based on what the company told me about how it’s approaching a “social hangout.”

“Roblox games are considered social hangouts where the primary theme or activity is to chat or interact with other players with voice or text,” said a spokesperson. “Note that if the title or description includes content referencing social hangouts, the game will be classified as a social hangout. Social hangouts that include private spaces (e.g. bedrooms or bathrooms) are Restricted and can only be played by users over 18 years old.”

Roblox remains under enormous pressure, in light of ongoing lawsuits and regulatory threats. One reason much of the internet in the United States and elsewhere is now requiring users to scan IDs is because social platforms like Roblox, Instagram, and others have spent far too long emphasizing profits over safety. The consequences of their inactions is having tangible and negative consequences on everyone, as a result.

Nonetheless, many of the changes Roblox is making here, combined with other changes, are a meaningful step forward. It’s unlikely to change the public sentiment towards them, nor slow the lawsuits, but Roblox remains a massive platform that’s used by tens of millions of children. Every feature that makes it safer is a good thing.

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Also:

• In general, Roblox use is down in the house among my kids. But that’s also becuse device use is down, because we’re just spending way more time outside.

• I do not think the ID’ification of the internet is a good thing, but I also don’t have faith many parents are using parental controls on Roblox. A tough problem.

• Of course, if Roblox was a platform where you simply felt safe with your kid surfing through it without worry, all of this would be less of a big deal, too.