Roblox announced a “Facial Age Check” service last week, which is to be rolled out and required for members to use social features for safety purposes. However, it isn’t working as designed.
For those who missed it, last week, Roblox globally rolled out a new safety feature (which previously launched in select regions in early December) wherever chat is available. This feature requires an in-app face scan, which doubles as an age check to chat with others on the platform using AI tech. This service uses “Facial Age Check” technology (a necessity to chat with others), which is based on users who have volunteered their photos sourced in the U.K., and tested by the Age Check Certification Scheme in the U.K.
Fans were quick to point out issues immediately on forums such as Reddit, namely, what if parents don’t want their child’s face to be scanned for privacy purposes and localization issues (the world doesn’t look like U.K. residents).
The service has been rolled out, and although Roblox boasts “more than 50% of daily active users have completed the process,” many issues have surfaced. Age-appropriate players have been locked out of talking with their friends, developers are listing issues and asking to ground the update, and experts have said that the AI wrongly confirms young players as adults and vice versa. The system allegedly does little to help address the ongoing problem on the Roblox platform; child safety is at risk.
Niftier players have realized the graphical prowess of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach can also bypass these face scan restrictions (reported by Dexterto). Some users on Reddit have pointed out the irony of a facial scan service just being “flooded with Norman Reedus” as a detriment to the facial scan’s learning ability.
According to Wired, they’ve found multiple listings on the resale platform, eBay, for age-verified Roblox accounts up for sale for as low as $4. Roblox’s CSO, Matt Kaufman, replied to the site in an email responding to the issues with the service, “You can’t flip a switch while building something that hasn’t existed before,” he said, adding, “Expecting the system to be flawless overnight is ignoring the scale of this undertaking.”
While Roblox has acknowledged some issues with the system on their devforum, the system remains intact on the platform.
