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Roblox must make changes after failing to block adults creeping on kids

Roblox is first platform to submit to independent audits under the Online Safety Act.

Roblox must make changes after failing to block adults creeping on kids

The eSafety commissioner of Australia, Julie Inman Grant, has expressed concern that Roblox continues to fail in preventing adults from exploiting children on the platform. Despite implementing changes last fall aimed at blocking adults from messaging unknown children, recent testing conducted by the agency revealed significant gaps in Roblox's safeguards.

These gaps allowed adult strangers to send connection requests to children, who had their profiles and biographies, including account names, connection details, avatar images, and non-sensitive personal interests visible to anyone on the platform with no option to restrict the visibility of such information. Notably, these requests did not trigger any parental alerts, posing a serious risk of exploitation.

Additionally, malicious actors could search children's visible contact lists to identify further targets, highlighting the urgent need for Roblox to make further improvements to protect its young user base.

Written by urgent.news from Ars Technica Policy's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.

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