Australia says Roblox hasn’t fixed its child predator problem

Roblox has agreed to make additional changes to its child safety features after Australia's online safety regulator, eSafety, found the platform still exposed children to contact from adult strangers, per The Verge.

eSafety has been investigating whether Roblox is in compliance with Australia's Online Safety Act, with concerns centered on the company "allegedly failing to have sufficient measures in place to prevent contact between adults and children under 16." Although Roblox introduced some safety measures prior to the investigation, eSafety's testing conducted this year found the platform "continued to put children at risk, including allowing contact between children and adult strangers," according to The Verge. Among the specific findings, eSafety's testing showed that adults could still send connection requests to minors on the platform.

The outcome of the investigation is a court-enforceable undertaking secured by eSafety, which legally binds Roblox to implement further protections for Australian children. The undertaking follows a pattern of escalating regulatory pressure on the company over grooming and sexual exploitation risks on the platform.

Roblox is a user-generated gaming and social platform with a large base of younger users globally. Child safety on the platform has been a recurring regulatory and legal concern across multiple jurisdictions, with critics arguing the company's moderation and privacy defaults have not kept pace with its user growth among minors.

The eSafety action is part of a broader wave of scrutiny directed at platforms popular with children under new or updated online safety laws in Australia and elsewhere. Australia's Online Safety Act gives eSafety broad powers to investigate platforms and seek enforceable commitments when they fall short of safety obligations for minors. Roblox's response — promising more changes — suggests the company views compliance as an ongoing process rather than a resolved matter, though the binding nature of the undertaking means regulators now have a formal mechanism to hold it accountable.