Artificial Intelligence tools were used to help make sure this post is free of grammatical errors and typos, but they were not used to generate content. All opinions expressed here are those of my own.
It’s been 5 months since I abandoned Roblox after their banning of Youtuber Schlep. Things have changed since, but I don’t think it’s enough.
The biggest change Roblox has made recently is the requirement of age verfication for access to chat features. 1 This is kind of a step in the right direction, but it’s not perfect.
The reason it isn’t perfect is that it divides the platform, especially in games that require multiplayer cooperation.
A table of age groups and who they can and can not chat with. Source: Roblox
The use of facial recognition software raises both privacy and accuracy concerns. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), facial recognition systems have higher error rates for certain demographics, particularly women. 2
In the latest report from NIST back in November, facial recognition technology has an average error rate of +/- 4 years. 3 This means that a 13-year-old could, at worst, possibly be misidentified as 17, allowing for posibly harmful interactions with others. On average, the algorithms were accurate within 3 years 48% of the time.
The company Roblox outsourced for this verification, Persona, has previously been sued in Illinois (they lost) over the way it handles (or handled, not sure what to use here) user data. 4 Justice Davenport of the 3rd District Appellate Court of Illinois issued this opinion back in August 2024:
The circuit court granted the motion, and plaintiffs appealed. For the reasons that follow, we hold Persona has no legitimate basis to compel plaintiffs’ claims to arbitration. Accordingly, we reverse the court’s order.
My projects
I have a few Roblox-related projects, which I put on hold back in August. From today, I’ll resume development on the following projects:
Look out for updates on these projects in the near future.
As I finish writing this post, I’m working on a V2 for the platform signs, so stay tuned. :)
Lastly, I’m continuing my monetary hold on Roblox as well, until more significant changes are made.
Footnotes
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Kaufman, Matt (2026-01-07). “A New Era of Safety: Facial Age Checks Now Required to Chat on Roblox”. Roblox Corporation. Retrieved 2026-01-13. ↩
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Boutin, Chad (2024-05-30). “NIST Reports First Results From Age Estimation Software Evaluation”. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved 2026-01-13. ↩
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National Institute of Standards and Technology (2025-11-19). “Age Estimation Report Card”. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved 2026-01-13. ↩
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3rd District Appellate Court of Illinois (2024-08-13). “Washington v. Persona Identities, Inc.” Retrieved 2026-01-13. ↩