Tuesday, February 8 marks Safer Internet Day, which is celebrated in over 200 countries to promote the safe and positive use of digital technology for children and young people. Its goal is to inspire a national conversation about using technology responsibly, respectfully, critically, and creatively. The global theme this year is “Together for a Better Internet” – a message we can all get behind! On this day, we wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the resources, tools, and systems we have put in place at Roblox to support our community and help create a better experience.
We’ve spent over a decade building a safety system and policies based on industry best practices, and continuously evolve them to foster a safe, civil, and inclusive community. In addition to the safety systems we put in place, we also offer a range of tools to give you control over your experience.
- Chat Filtering: We filter all text chat on the platform to block inappropriate content, including questions about personal information and instructions on how to connect on other, less restrictive third-party chat apps. These filters are updated daily.
- For users under 13, we offer additional filters, such as blocking all use of numbers and personally identifiable information. We also do not allow images or video to be sent via chat or one-to-one user interactions.
- While we follow privacy regulations (COPPA, GDPR, CCPA), we don’t offer features such as end-to-end encryption, as that would prevent us from monitoring potentially harmful content, message postings, etc. on our platform.
- Proactive Safety Review of Uploaded Assets: Before they become available for our community to utilize in their creations, we conduct a safety review of every uploaded image, audio, and video file, using a combination of human moderators and machine detection.
- Parental Controls:
- We offer parental controls such as “Account Restrictions.” This feature gives parents and caregivers the option to limit chat to a curated list of contacts, or turn it off altogether.
- Parents can also choose to lock their kid’s “Contact Settings” so they cannot be changed.
- Some developers also offer private servers (for free or for a small fee, depending on the developer) so our community members can enjoy experiences with only their friends and people they choose to be included in the server.
- We have recently launched our new opt-in Age Verification service for anyone 13 years of age or older with a government-issued ID. This service helps to enable age-appropriate experiences and capabilities for verified users and lets them express themselves in a safe and respectful way.
- Looking forward, we are also developing content ratings to match users with content that’s appropriate for their age, giving parents even more control over how their children interact with Roblox.
- Reporting: We also actively encourage our users to report any activity they feel uncomfortable or concerned about. Users can mute or block people acting negatively and report inappropriate content/behavior using our Report Abuse system located prominently throughout the site and in experiences.
- Digital Civility Initiative: In 2019, we created our Digital Civility Initiative to provide actionable resources for parents, caregivers, and educators. The goal of the Digital Civility Initiative is to teach people how to have positive interactions online and to equip them with the tools to recognize questionable or bad behavior.
We would also like to take a moment to recognize some of the work from our safety partners to support Safer Internet Day. In the U.S., our safety partner, ConnectSafely, has brought together experts from the tech industry, child safety organizations, and academia to share their safety tips. In Australia, the e-Safety Commissioners Office is encouraging everyone to #PlayitFairOnline. And the UK Safer Internet Centre has additional safety resources focusing on exploring respect and relationships online. We hope all of these resources and our partnerships with these safety organizations will inspire more conversations about using technology responsibly, respectfully, and creatively.
Please take a moment this Safer Internet Day to review your settings on Roblox and learn more from the resources from our safety partners so that you can have fun, positive, and productive experiences online.
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