Roblox cracks down on adult content after lawsuits

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Roblox is tightening its guardrails around safety. In a Friday post, chief safety officer Matt Kaufman announced sweeping changes to the company’s policies. 

The company is expanding its long-standing ban on sexual and romantic content to include “content, settings, or behavior that implies sexual activity” — Kaufman’s emphasis included.

The move comes as Roblox faces mounting scrutiny in courtrooms and state offices. 

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill recently filed a lawsuit accusing the company of fostering an environment where “child predators thrive,” alleging Roblox has “directly facilitated the widespread sexual exploitation of minors.” 

The suit claims children in Louisiana have suffered “severe, lasting harm” as a result.

Roblox has strongly pushed back, calling the accusations false. “Any assertion that Roblox would intentionally put our users at risk of exploitation is simply untrue,” the company said.

At the same time, Roblox has been steadily layering new safety tools onto its platform. 

Those include an age estimator to verify when players are over 13, parental controls for managing children’s accounts remotely, and restrictions that prevent under-13 users from entering open-ended “social hangout” spaces. 

But Murrill has been blunt in her demands: “Fix it, or shut it down!”

According to Kaufman, more structural changes are on the way. In the “coming months,” any unrated experiences, once open to players 13 and older, will be limited only to developers and collaborators. 

To make those projects public, creators will need to complete a questionnaire to assign the experience a maturity label.

Roblox is also deploying technology that can automatically detect rule-breaking behavior in real time. 

For example, if a drawing tool is misused to generate inappropriate content, the system can identify spikes in violations and shut down entire servers.

Meanwhile, certain environments, like bedrooms, bathrooms, bars, and clubs, will soon be restricted to users aged 17 and up, provided they verify their identity. 

Developers creating for this group will also have to confirm they’re at least 17.

Will Roblox’s stricter content policies and age verification be enough to address safety concerns from parents and lawmakers? Should platforms like Roblox that appeal to kids have to meet higher safety standards than general social media sites? Tell us below in the comments, or reach us via our Twitter or Facebook.