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Roblox’s New Age Verification Feature Uses AI to Scan Teens’ Video Selfies
Roblox will scan video selfies of teens to assess their ages as part of a new “Trusted Connections” feature that gives users access to unfiltered chatting with people they know.
Roblox is rolling out new features aimed at making the platform safer for minors, including a revamped friend system, privacy tools, and age verification services users submit by recording a video selfie. Kirra Pendergast, founder and CEO of Safe on Social—an online safety organization operating worldwide—says Roblox’s latest safety measures are largely op-in, therefore putting “responsibility on minors to identify and manage risks, something that contradicts everything we know about grooming dynamics.” Features like machine learning age estimation tools, for example, can incorrectly categorize users as older or younger; in person code scanning, she says, “assumes that in-person QR code scanning is inherently safe.” The system’s privacy policy warns that it might also “monitor and record your video and audio interactions with other users,” though some people are concerned about that level of surveillance and argue it makes GameChat less appealing than Discord.
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