Roblox Makes Big Changes to Parental Controls After 'Pedophile Hellscape' Report

ign.com:

Roblox is implementing some major changes to the control it gives parents over their children's accounts following damning reports that its platform was rife with child exploitation and abuse.

In an email sent to parents who manage children accounts on Roblox, which IGN has obtained, the company details that it's finally introducing Roblox accounts with parental privileges. Prior to this, Roblox parental controls allowed parents to essentially set a PIN on a child's account that only the parent would know. This unlocks the ability to change settings like what type of content the child can access and set spending limits.

Now, PINs are going away. Instead, parents must create their own separate Roblox accounts and link them to the child account. This gives parents the ability to update parental controls from their own device, as well as access information about the child's time spent in Roblox and friend list.

Additionally, users under the age of 13 will now require a parent's permission to use certain chat features, and users under the age of nine will require parental permission to engage with any Roblox experiences labeled as having "Moderate" content maturity ratings.

Here's the email in full:

Dear parent,

We’ve been working on a series of important changes that we’ll be making to your child’s account, [NAME], next month.

About Roblox accounts with parent privileges

Next month, we’re changing the way parents manage their child’s experience on Roblox by introducing Roblox accounts with parent privileges. After linking your account to your child’s, parents can view and update parental controls for their child all from their own device. Parents also get access to insights about their child’s Roblox usage, such as their daily screen time and on-platform friends.

Given these changes, starting next month, parents will no longer be able to set a parent PIN, use Account Restrictions, or receive account-related notifications to their parental email. Instead, you will need to use