A new mandatory safety feature requires Roblox users in the U.S. to submit to facial age estimation via the app to access its chat feature. The online gaming platform announced it was implementing the system to prevent children younger than 16 from communicating with adults. About 42% of Roblox users are younger than 13.
But a cursory scroll on eBay found that various listings of age-verified Roblox accounts are available for purchase, some for as little as $2.99. This allows the purchaser to sign in to the account without having to use any ID or facial scan, voiding the new safety feature Roblox has implemented.
The description of one listing (since removed) read: “The product is an Age Verified Roblox account for users between the ages of 13-15. This account comes with chat unlocked, allowing users to communicate with other players aged 9-17.”
After Wired flagged the listings in a recent report, eBay said the company was removing them for violating the site’s policies. At the time of this writing, Fast Company found 27 results when searching for “Roblox age verified account.”
That’s not the only problem Roblox is contending with. The system has also had trouble correctly estimating user’s ages, mislabeling some adults as children and vice versa.
One X user wrote that their 10-year-old brother was misidentified as a 16- to 17-year-old. The replies are full of others sharing similar stories. “I have a full ass beard and it put my alt on a 13-16 age range,” one responded to the post. “I’m 23 (nearly 24) and it’s forced me as a 16-17 year old,” another wrote.
Another X user posted a video of them circumventing the age verification using a 3D animated avatar, which Roblox’s system identified as over 18. Another user, somewhat unbelievably, fooled the system into thinking he was over the age of 21 by drawing on facial hair with a marker. At present, nearly 80 active lawsuits accuse Roblox of enabling child exploitation, with some parents alleging their children encountered predators on the app.
A Roblox spokesperson told Fast Company: “We’re excited to see that tens of millions of users have already completed the process, proving that the vast majority of our community values a safer, more age-appropriate environment. To roll this out to a global community of over 150 million daily active users is a huge undertaking and we’re working to smooth out the transition.”
Roblox has previously put out statements saying the company is “constantly evaluating user behavior to determine if someone is significantly older or younger than expected. In these situations, we will soon begin asking users to repeat the age-check process.”
Last week the company also became “aware of instances where parents age check on behalf of their children, leading to kids being aged to 21+.”