Parents were celebrating this week Roblox, popular online game marketed to childrenannounced that they are making some big changes to their controversial chat features.
It was confirmed that the platform will implement significant updates to its security systems and parental controls by 2025 – including preventing people under the age of 13 from sending messages to others online.
Red flags parents need to know about
While many have been reassured by the new rules, those who have applauded the Australian government’s ban on social media for children under 16, many online safety experts are warning parents that they may not get what they expect. See it as a false emotion, don’t get trapped in it.
According to a former detective and child protection expert, Christy McVeyThe changes to Roblox’s chat options seem positive on the surface, but parents need to dig a little deeper to make sure their kids are completely safe when using the app.
Christy told Kidspot, “While Roblox has made positive changes to protect children under 13, these changes are a phony ‘safety’ measure for parents and go against what Roblox can do to protect children. “It’s less than that.”
“My biggest takeaway from the surface level protective measures Roblox has released is that it puts the onus on parents to make sure kids are safe in their games. The changes were made purely as a ‘reputational effort’ after the Hindenburg Report in October described it as a ‘hellfire of pedophiles’.
parental responsibility?
According to Christie, putting the responsibility back on parents is a major red flag related to the new rules.
She insists, “Instead of blocking and removing the millions of predatory adults who prey on kids in games, and the millions of inappropriate games and content that our kids have access to, Roblox decided to make it parents’ responsibility to keep kids safe.” ”
“They know that game users and content are problematic, yet they have taken the easy option of making parents responsible for games designed and targeted specifically for children.
“For children under the age of 13, a parent account needs to be set up and linked to their children’s account to be able to set up the new security measures, however, after the age of 13, They have no control over their children. accounting book.”
What about children whose accounts are not linked?
Similar to the concerns of many people about banning children under 16 on social media from lying about their age, Christie admits she is also worried that this ‘trend’ will continue Online games like Roblox.
“As a detective and cyber security teacher, I observed many children creating accounts using fake birth dates to enable access on different social media platforms. What can stop any child from creating accounts that do this? There is no age verification, so anyone over 13 can create an account and start playing/talking with strangers,” she explains.
“Children are very resourceful and if they want, they will find a way. As parents, we need tech companies and platforms designed specifically for our kids so they can take some accountability and do more.
She adds, “They have ways to identify and remove these violent accounts, yet they turn a blind eye and tell parents it’s their fault if their child is abused on our platform. Is.”
How to Play Safely on Roblox
However, now is not the time to panic. If your child plays RobloxThere are ways to keep them safe.
Christy suggests, “If you choose to let your kids go on Roblox, make sure they have the correct birth date and use whatever settings are available to you.”
“Regularly monitor and play with them, be in the room with them, and check their usage weekly.
“Know the platform and how it works, identify what games your child is playing, and be wary of third-party messaging apps like Discord. Kids may not talk to each other in games, but they can still communicate through other messaging apps,” she adds.
About Roblox’s new chat rules for people under 13
Earlier this week, Chief Security Officer Matt Kaufman announced that Roblox would be making some significant changes to its platform to make it safer for some of its youngest users.
Although he said so Connecting with others is the core of the Roblox experienceKaufman also acknowledged that security is extremely important.
As a result, users under the age of 13 will no longer be able to message others on Roblox except in games or experiences. There will also be a built-in setting that will limit users under the age of 13 to only publicly broadcast messages within the game or experience.
By default, users under the age of 13 will not be able to send messages directly to others – however, parents can change this setting in Parental Controls.
