Roblox assures parental controls for younger users
MANILA, Philippines — A representative for Roblox guaranteed that the gaming and creation platform is employing measures for young users which can be monitored and customized by parents.
The platform, which has been around for two decades now, was a hot topic in the Philippines earlier this year after reports of predators taking advantage of the game’s features to groom or exploit minors.
Authorities, however, announced Roblox will not be banned in the country; the govenment instead called for stronger child safety measures.
According to a statement from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the platform promised officials it would enforce stricter monitoring and age-appropriate content controls.
These include controls for monitoring screen time, setting spending limits, blocking inappropriate content, and filtering experiences by age rating.
Last August 18 in Taguig, Roblox's communications head in the Asia-Pacific region Papri Dev met with members of the media, including Philstar.com, for the first-ever "Unbox Roblox" event that presented its different features regarding creativity, education, and safety.
Dev reiterated that parents do and can have control over their children's usage, "Parents need to be involved in the time kids are spending on the platform.
She pointed to Roblox's age-based ecosystem, which is divided into three account types: Kids (for users aged 5 to 8 years old), Select (for users aged 9 to 15 years old), and regular accounts for users over 16 years old.
Related: Roblox won't be banned in the Philippines after child safety talks
Both Kids and Select accounts contain a full suite of parent controls, the latter for users up to age 12, while certain control and visibility into children's accounts are available through age 15.
Chatting features are off by default for Kids and can be enabled through a linked parental account, which Dev encouraged parents to apply for. Chatting is gradually introduced with safeguards for Select, while it is on by fault of the main system.
Kids have Minimal or Mild content ratings, while Select has both as well as Moderate. The main system has all rated content except for Restricted access.
Dev also shared that users who do not utilize the facial recognition verification of Roblox are allowed to play games on the platform but cannot communicate with other users. Games are additionally vetted and moderated before going into the ecosystem.
"Trust your kids, they know more about the platform than you do. Trust them to know about its features," Dev said. "Give kids a chance to explore the platform and then spend time with them."
Parent lens
Dev dove deeper into how parents can better monitor the activity of their children on Roblox by dividing into three sections: Parental Controls, Civility, and Learning.
As indicated earlier, parents whose children are on Kids and Select accounts can utilize a number of features like choosing content maturity levels, managing screen time, managing communication and connection limits, monitoring in-platform spending, and setting monthly spending limits.
Related: Iya Villania, Drew Arellano ban their children from playing Roblox
Parental controls actually fall under Civility, which is how Roblox protects its community through its continuously evolving safety infrastructure.
Civility includes Community Standard, which sets expectations for behavior and prohibited content, acted upon by the platform's Trust & Safety team within minutes of possible violations.
Roblox also said that it ensures no personal data for users below 13 years old are shared, as data collection is only limited to what is necessary to run the platform.
Dev encouraged users to make use of the Family Zone, where parents on Roblox can connect with their children. This includes the following:
- Interactive Co-Play Experience - parents and children can explore the platform together
- Hands-on Parental Education - parents learn platform basics (avatar movement, navigation) and key safety settings
- Digital Literacy & Safety Hub - educational modules designed with online safety experts to help navigate critical topics like scam prevention, anti-bullying, and predatory behavior
A similar area is The Learning Hub, which contains dozens of educational experiences and games from education providers and developers.
All vetted experiences and games are grade- and subject-level appropriate, covering computer science, arts, math, life skills, brain games, and more.
Dev later shared that Roblox sees the Philippines as a market with a lot of creativity and users who can use the platform to play and learn. — with reports from Cristina Chi and Mark Ernest Villeza
RELATED: New scam attempts affect Filipinos nearly every 2 days
