Earlier this month, the gaming platform Roblox began requiring facial age checks for users of all ages to access chat worldwide. The move was hailed as a significant step toward improving child safety and online identity protection.
IDScan.net COO Jillian Kossman was among the proponents, citing new research that shows children are up to 51 times more likely than adults to experience identity theft. Kossman also noted that 1 in 8 are already compromised, largely because their identities are rarely monitored.
“When a platform as large as Roblox with 111.8 million average daily active users decides that self-declared age and basic safeguards are no longer sufficient, it makes it abundantly clear to regulated industries,” Kossman told CasinoBeats. “At that size, trust alone doesn’t work, especially when a significant proportion of users are minors interacting online.”
IDScan.net, which works with global brands such as Chevrolet, IBM, and Shell, says it processes 35 million age verifications each month. Roblox’s new initiative aims to keep chat conversations between users of similar ages. Ultimately, the goal is to prevent online predators from targeting children on the platform.
“We consistently see that minors are disproportionately vulnerable to identity misuse because their identities are rarely monitored, making them prime prospects for organized fraud,” Kossman said. “The same methods used to bypass age checks in gaming, such as through borrowed IDs, manipulated images, and AI-generated fakes, are now appearing across social platforms, digital wallets, and increasingly in regulated environments like online gambling and casinos.”
Early Kinks With New Verification Process
Wired was the first to report glitches in Roblox’s new AI-powered verification system, with 18+ users mistakenly labeled as kids and vice versa.
Mashable reported that one user posted a video of a “3D animated avatar they uploaded, which Roblox’s system identified as over 18.” A young boy also fooled the new age verification system by “drawing a mustache and beard on his face with a marker. The system indicated that it thought he was over the age of 21.”
In a statement to Mashable, Roblox said that it was pleased with the new age verification system powered by Persona.
“To suggest that our age check technology isn’t working is a fundamental misunderstanding of what it takes to shift safety at scale,” Roblox Chief Safety Officer Matt Kaufman said. “With a global community of over 150 million daily active users, we are pleased with where we are in the roll-out process…Expecting the system to be flawless overnight is ignoring the scale of this undertaking.”
There has been internal criticism of the new system, with a Roblox game developer complaining that it’s “hurting their games by decimating their chat activity.”
The most distressing fallout from the early struggles was reported by Wired, which discovered a “black market growing on eBay where sellers were auctioning off Roblox accounts that were already age-verified, providing potential predators with yet another workaround to the system.”
While Roblox’s new system appears to be a work in progress, the company’s proactive intent is to keep kids safe. Kossman believes forward-looking initiatives represent the new norm.
“Authorities are moving away from reactive enforcement and toward expectations of proactive, layered age and identity checks,” Kossman said. “Platforms that do not adapt to this sort of regulation won’t just face fines, they risk being seen as fundamentally untrustworthy in environments where trust is the license to operate.”
More Information & Source
Original Source:
Visit Original Website
Read Full News:
Click Here to Read More
Have questions or feedback?
Contact Us
Other Articles
