Get the latest tech news

Roblox restricts DMs for kids under 13 and beefs up parental controls in safety push


Roblox is adding new restrictions to younger kids’ accounts and revamping its parental control features as part of a push to beef up the safety features on its platform.

The changes come after damaging reports about the company’s safety practices and amid a broader industry reckoning over online platforms’ effect on kids. Now, parents are able to get push notification when their kids want approval for specific actions like joining an experience with a higher maturity rating. A report in Bloomberg Businessweek earlier this year detailed what it described as Roblox’s “pedophile problem,” noting that “since 2018, police in the US have arrested at least two dozen people accused of abducting or abusing victims they’d met or groomed using Roblox.” Hindenburg Research, a firm known for short-selling, also recently published a report in which it accused Roblox of failing to protect children from being targeted by predators.

Get the Android app

Or read this on Endgadget

Read more on:

Photo of Kids

Kids

Photo of Roblox

Roblox

Photo of DMs

DMs

Related news:

News photo

Roblox no longer allows users under 13 to message others outside of games

News photo

Snapchat will let parents track their kids through Family Center

News photo

Kids' shoemaker Start-Rite trips over security again, spilling customer card info