Roblox Safety Update: Age Checks & Chat Limits

Beyond The Blox
26 November 2025
Adam Whitney
Watch on YouTube now
Adam and Anthony look on as a young Roblox character is marked under-13 with the title "Is Roblox Safe?".
Adam and Anthony look on as a young Roblox character is marked under-13 with the title "Is Roblox Safe?".

Whether you are a daily player or a concerned parent, you have likely seen Roblox in the headlines recently. From major features in the New York Times and BBC News to lawsuits from Attorney Generals across the US, the platform's safety practices are under the microscope.

In response, Roblox has begun rolling out its most significant safety overhaul to date. These changes fundamentally alter how players communicate and verify their identities. In this week's episode of Beyond The Blox, we sat down to unpack what these updates mean for the community.

The End of Open Chat?

The most immediate change for many players is the introduction of chat segregation by age. Previously, players could chat with anyone in a server, subject to text filtering. Under the new system, users will primarily be able to message only those in their specific age bracket.

The brackets are granular: Under 9, 9-12, 13-15, 16-17, 18-20, and 21+.

The goal is clear: prevent younger users from interacting with adults who might have malicious intent. However, this creates a unique challenge. As we discussed in the episode, players won't necessarily know why they aren't getting a response. You might be in a server with 20 other people, type "Hello," and receive silence—not because they are being rude, but because they simply cannot see your messages.

This "invisible wall" effectively fragments the community. It creates a scenario where players are shouting into the void, unaware if anyone can actually hear them. While this solves the issue of inter-generational communication risks, it fundamentally changes the social fabric of the platform.

A False Sense of Security?

One of the most critical points raised during our discussion is the potential for a false sense of security.

When players know they could be chatting with anyone, there is a natural (and necessary) level of suspicion. Parents teach their kids: "Stranger Danger," "Don't share your real name," and "You don't know who is behind that avatar."

However, if Roblox tells users, "You are only chatting with other 9-to-12-year-olds," that guard might come down. A child might feel safe sharing their real name, school, or location because they believe they are amongst peers. But no system is perfect. If a bad actor bypasses the age verification—perhaps by using someone else's face—they could gain access to that trusted circle. In that scenario, the victim is more vulnerable than if they had assumed the chat was open to everyone.

AI Age Estimation

To make age segregation work, Roblox needs to know how old you actually are. Self-reporting age has always been unreliable—kids lie to access older games, and bad actors lie to access kids.

Roblox's solution is AI facial age estimation. This feature uses your device's camera to scan your face and estimate your age range. It is designed to be privacy-preserving (the data isn't supposed to be stored), but it raises valid concerns.

  1. Accuracy: In our own testing, the system hasn't always been perfect. Being misidentified could lock a user out of their actual age group.
  2. Bypassing: A determined child might ask a parent (or older sibling) to scan their face, inadvertently placing a 10-year-old into an 18+ bracket. This exposes them to voice chat and age-rated content they aren't ready for—arguably a worse outcome than the original problem.
  3. Privacy: Many users simply do not want to scan their face for a game. These users may default to the strictest settings, limiting their experience even if they are adults.

The Impact on Developers

While players face communication barriers, developers face a different set of hurdles. The new updates restrict collaboration in Roblox Studio. Developers can no longer easily team up with creators outside their age bracket.

This strikes a blow to the mentorship culture that has defined Roblox for nearly two decades. Many of today's top developers learned to code, model, or design GUIs by asking older, more experienced creators for help in-game or collaborating on small projects. That avenue for organic learning is now largely closed.

Furthermore, custom matchmaking becomes a nightmare. If a developer wants to build a team-based game, they now have to account for the fact that half the team might not be able to see the other half's chat messages. Creating "homogenous" servers where everyone is the same age is technically difficult and could lead to empty lobbies.

Locking Down Social Links

Another controversial move is the removal of social media links (like Discord or X/Twitter) from within experiences for users under certain ages, and potentially a broader crackdown on linking out entirely.

While this aims to keep users on the safety-monitored Roblox platform ("walled garden"), it ignores a fundamental reality: players will find communities. If they can't click a verified link to an official game Discord, they will Google it. This risks landing them in unofficial, unmoderated servers run by bad actors, rather than the developer-run communities that have safety protocols in place.

Why Now?

Roblox isn't making these changes in a vacuum. The pressure is mounting from multiple angles:

  • Legal Action: Lawsuits from Attorney Generals in Kentucky, Louisiana, and Texas allege that Roblox has concealed safety concerns.
  • Global Bans: Countries like Turkey have banned the platform entirely over child safety fears.
  • Legislation: New laws, such as Australia's proposed social media ban for under-16s, threaten to cut off a huge portion of the user base.

By strictly segregating users and limiting communication, Roblox is arguably trying to prove it is a "gaming platform" rather than "social media" to avoid these sweeping regulations.

No Silver Bullet

There is no single switch to make the internet 100% safe. While these tools add friction for bad actors, they also add friction for legitimate users. The "Morse code" workarounds players are already joking about—jumping for "yes," crouching for "no"—prove that determined users will always find a way to communicate.

Ultimately, technology can only do so much. These updates must be paired with active parental involvement. Parents need to understand the tools available to them—from spending limits to content restrictions—and, crucially, talk to their kids about online safety.

For a full breakdown of the parental controls available right now, check the resources linked below.

Sources:

Roblox Safety information