Roblox, the Gaming Site, Wants to Grow Up Without Sacrificing Child Safety

Child safety experts said that as other sites try to broaden their appeal to children — Facebook, for instance, said it would create an Instagram product tailored specifically for those 13 and younger, before postponing those plans — they could learn important lessons from Roblox.

Titania Jordan, the chief parent officer at Bark, a tech company that uses artificial intelligence to monitor children’s devices, said that although bad behavior can sometimes slip through the cracks at Roblox, the company is still “commendable” in its approach to child safety, especially compared with sites like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

One Roblox tool other companies could implement, she said, was the ability to turn on parental controls that children cannot disable. Ms. Jordan said she would feel much better about letting her 12-year-old son use Snapchat if she could, for instance, enter a pin code at a certain time and lock the app for the rest of the night. Having an age verification system backed by an I.D. was also comforting, she said, compared with apps where it is easy to enter any age and create an account.

The fact that Roblox has devoted a good part of its design to combating misconduct and illicit material but still faces criticism could be another lesson to companies like Facebook, said Mr. Haynes, of Common Sense. He said it could make social platforms — many of which already devote considerable resources to policing for offensive or violent content — try even harder before believing they can safely offer something for a younger audience.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/17/business/roblox-child-safety.html