Roblox Corp., the video game platform popular with teens, is introducing a series of reforms after widespread public outcry over its child protection policies and the arrests of suspected child abusers using the service.
Users under the age of 13 will need parental permission to access certain Roblox chat features, in accordance with a replica of an email the corporate sent to folks this week. According to the e-mail, which was reviewed by Bloomberg News, children under 9 also need permission to play games with moderate violence or crude humor.
The San Mateo, California-based video game company can be introducing a brand new account type that permits parents to watch their child's online activities and friends.
A Roblox spokesperson declined to offer further information in regards to the changes the corporate plans to implement next month.
The moves “are part of Roblox's commitment to making the platform one of the safest online environments for our users, especially our youngest users,” the corporate said in an emailed statement.
The changes follow Roblox's announcement in July that it could label games based on the kind of content they contain moderately than their age.
Unlike its competitors, Roblox until recently allowed children of all ages to create accounts and refer to strangers. Child safety advocates have criticized the convenience with which kids can chat with people they don't know on Roblox – an issue the changes may fix. Starting in September, Roblox will now not allow children under 5 to create accounts.
Following the Businessweek investigation, short seller Hindenburg Research released a report saying Roblox wasn't doing enough to forestall child predators from accessing the platform. The report also accused Roblox of accelerating its user numbers and time played, although some industry observers questioned that claim. Days earlier, short seller Bear Cave published an analogous report claiming Roblox enabled “widespread child abuse.”
A Roblox spokesperson described the Hindenburg report as “misleading” and said the authors “failed to accurately report on the company's public disclosures.”
“We firmly believe that Roblox is a safe platform and considers the financial metrics we report,” the spokesperson said on the time.
In an interview earlier this yr, Matt Kaufman, Roblox's chief safety officer, rejected the notion that Roblox has a systemic child safety problem, saying that the platform's moderation systems scan all chat and digital content for inappropriate content.
For more stories like this, take a look at Bloomberg.com
©2024 Bloomberg LP
Originally published:
image credit : www.mercurynews.com