Roblox will launch restricted accounts for children and teenagers, two months after being put on notice by the government over reports children were being groomed on the platform.
The popular social gaming site will introduce two accounts in June: Roblox Kids for those aged between five and eight, and Roblox Select for ages nine to 15.
The platform’s age check technology, which includes facial checks, will assign users to their designated accounts.
Roblox Kids users will only be able to access games with maturity ratings of “minimal” or “mild”, with the chat function turned off by default.
It will have an electric blue background to distinguish it from other accounts.
Inside the experiences of Roblox for parents and children
Roblox Select users will only be able to access games with a “moderate” rating, with chat room functions to be gradually introduced with safeguards, allowing them to chat with family, friends or people of a similar age.
“While no system is perfect, these age-adaptive accounts are designed to help remove the guesswork for parents and help align users’ experiences with their age,” Roblox chief safety officer Matt Kaufman said in a statement.
All games will undergo a review process before the changes are implemented, including the platform undertaking real-time evaluation of users aged 16 and over playing games first to see how they are played.
Parental controls are also being expanded on the site, allowing parents to block specific games and manage chats until their child turns 16.
What is Roblox?Roblox is an online gaming platform that allows users to develop and play games created by themselves or by other users.It includes a messaging function that allowed players text and voice chat with other people.Roblox has doubled in size since 2022, with roughly 111 million daily users, an estimated 40 per cent of whom are under 13.Australia is the second-largest market for Roblox, behind the US.It is the most popular gaming app among Australian children aged between four and 18.
Roblox will also start transitioning to the Australian Classification Board to assign content ratings for games later in 2026, in a bid to help families identify age-appropriate content.
Communications Minister Anika Wells met Roblox representatives in February after she expressed concern over graphic and gratuitous media reportedly affecting children on the site, including sexual and suicidal content.
“Even more disturbing are ongoing reports and concerns about children being approached and groomed by predators, who actively seek to exploit their curiosity and innocence,” she said in a letter to Roblox before the meeting.
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In a statement, Ms Wells said the government would be watching the rollout of Roblox’s changes closely.
“We made it clear to Roblox that something had to be done — and I welcome these steps towards stronger safety measures on their platform for under-16s, not just in Australia, but globally,” she said.
“Kids should be able to play their favourite games without being exposed to harmful content.”
Roblox is not explicitly included in the government’s social media ban for under-16s that began in December 2025, despite its popularity among Australian children.
But under the legislation, platforms can be fined up to $49.5 million by the eSafety commissioner for non-compliance.
New codes focused on age-restricted material like pornography and self-harm also came into effect on March 9, which apply to Roblox.
There is also a requirement for gaming services to ban and take proportionate action against non-consensual sharing of intimate images, grooming and sexual extortion.
Which apps are included in Australia’s social media ban?Banned: TikTok
TikTok logo
TikTok is used to create, share and discover short videos, owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance.
Before the ban, the eSafety Commission said there were about 200,000 Australian users aged 13 to 15, among a total of almost 10 million Australian accounts.
While TikTok has its own minimum age of 13, the regulator has found it is one of the most popular platforms for users aged between eight and 12 as well.
The platform’s Australia policy lead, Ella Woods-Joyce, said TikTok would comply with the ban, but warned it could have unintended consequences.
“Experts believe a ban will push younger people into darker corners of the internet where protections don’t exist,” Ms Woods-Joyce said.
Banned: Instagram
Instagram logo
Instagram was the most used app among Australian teenagers aged 13 to 17, with more than a million monthly active users in this age cohort, according to the eSafety Commission.
The platform is owned by Meta, which also owns Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Messenger.
Instagram said its “teen accounts” were automatically applied to users aged 13 to 17, which came with built-in limits on who can contact them and filters on “sensitive content”.
Users in this age cohort also received notifications prompting them to leave the app after 60 minutes of use in one day.
Despite these measures, Instagram is under Australia’s social media ban for under-16s.
Banned: Snapchat
Snapchat logo
Snapchat was also among the most popular apps for young people, with more than a million of its 8.3 million Australian users aged 17 or under.
Snapchat is a messaging app that allows users to send images, videos and texts that are only available for a short period once they are opened.
Users can also choose to share their location with friends on Snap Map.
Snapchat sought to allow underage users to download and archive their data before their accounts were disabled.
Banned: YouTube
YouTube logo
YouTube has been one of the most popular online platforms for young Australians, with more than 643,000 users aged 17 and under.
The regulator found it was the top platform for users aged between eight and 12, with more than two-thirds of those surveyed picking it as their platform of choice.
The Australian government was planning to exempt YouTube from its social media ban, but later backflipped on this decision.
Rachel Lord from YouTube Australia and New Zealand says there’s substantial evidence that YouTube is widely used in classrooms and supported by parents.
“YouTube is not a social media platform; it is a video streaming platform with a library of free, high-quality content, and TV screens are increasingly the most popular place to watch,” she said.
YouTube Kids, a filtered version of the platform that allows parents to create accounts for children under 12, is still allowed.
Banned: Facebook
The Facebook logo.
While Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube dominated for young social media users, Facebook still had an estimated 455,000 Australian users aged between 13 and 17.
The platform is owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta and already has a minimum age of 13.
Meta policy director Mia Garlick recently told a Senate hearing that the company would comply with the ban but was still solving “numerous challenges” to identify teenagers’ accounts.
Facebook’s private messaging service Messenger is still allowed.
Banned: Twitch
Twitch logo.(Supplied)
Streaming platform Twitch was added to the list of banned apps after the eSafety Commission found it has the sole or significant purpose of online social interaction.
“Twitch is a platform most commonly used for live streaming or posting content that enables users, including Australian children, to interact with others in relation to the content posted,” a statement posted to the eSafety website said.
Twitch is mainly used by gaming and eSport players to broadcast their gameplay with audio commentary, but it’s also used to share and broadcast music, live sports, and food programs, according to the regulator.
Banned: X
X logo
Formerly known as Twitter and owned by billionaire Elon Musk, X falls under the list of banned platforms for under-16s.
While it wasn’t among the most popular apps for young users, the eSafety Commission has concerns about the prevalence of “online hate” on the platform.
In June 2023, the regulator said it had received more complaints about online hate on X in the past 12 months than any other platform, saying X had “dropped the ball on tackling hate”.
Banned: Reddit
Reddit logo
Messaging board Reddit, the seventh-most visited site in the world, is on the list of age-restricted platforms.
The platform bans mature content until a user declares they are 18 or over; however, there was no age verification system in place, according to the eSafety Commission.
The platform has said it would comply with the ban, but disagreed with the “scope, effectiveness and privacy implications” of the law.
Banned: Kick
Kick logo
Along with Reddit, Kick was a late addition to the government’s list of age-restricted platforms.
Kick is an Australian competitor to the video live streaming platform Twitch, where users can watch live video streams covering games, music and gambling.
The eSafety Commission recently suggested Twitch, along with gaming site Roblox, could also soon fall under the ban.
Banned: Threads
Threads logo
Threads is a microblogging platform similar to X, which requires users to have an Instagram account for access.
As Instagram is banned for under 16s, Threads also falls under the list of banned platforms.
AAP/ABC