As our community continues to expand, both globally and by age (nearly 50% of the users on our platform are over the age of 13 as of Q2 2021), we want to make sure that everyone can express themselves in a safe and respectful way. Being confident in a user’s age and identity is a critical foundation for metaverse safety and civility. We are developing new and innovative ways to do so while always respecting users’ privacy.
One of the ways we are doing this on the Roblox platform is through a new opt-in Age Verification service for our users. This new service enables us to provide:
- Age-appropriate communication. Later this fall, Spatial Voice, which is currently in a limited Developer Beta, will be available for early access to all users who verify that they are at least 13 years of age. To ensure you are eligible for early access to Spatial Voice when it becomes available for Public Beta, verify your age here. Note that Age Verification is gradually rolling out to all users, so it may take some time before you see the option appear in your account.
- New workflows and features for developers and creators. In addition to delivering age-appropriate experiences, developers and creators can rely on Identity Verification as a signal of trust when looking for collaborators on the Roblox platform. A verified status lets the community know that a developer or creator is who they say they are.
How It Works
Age Verification comes in two stages. First, an ID document check, and then a selfie match. On the Roblox app, users start by scanning their ID card, driver’s license, or passport. Roblox uses advanced image processing technology to validate the document’s legitimacy.
From there, the user is asked to capture a selfie to check for “liveness” and “likeness.” Liveness ensures that the person is a living, breathing individual taking the selfie (rather than just a static image of a person), and likeness ensures that the person in the selfie is the same person as the face on the ID document. The entire process is automated and usually takes seconds to get a result after images are captured.
We want you to know that we take our community’s safety and privacy seriously, and Roblox does not store raw ID document nor the selfie data. When a government-issued ID is scanned for verification, an anonymized value is generated, allowing Roblox to safely verify identity without risking exposure of the user’s real identity.
The Age Verification service is gradually rolling out to users starting today, September 21, 2021, and over the course of a few weeks. It will be available globally in over 180 countries on both mobile and desktop for anyone 13 years of age or older with a government-issued ID or passport.
Age Verification marks a big milestone in our long-term vision of building a trusted, fun, and civil platform for everyone. As part of that vision, we will continue to work on seamless ways to verify a user’s age, always respecting a user’s privacy. Over time, we’ll continue to introduce new and innovative ways for users to easily and securely maintain and protect their identity on the Roblox platform, unlock new and immersive social capabilities, and build and enjoy amazing experiences together.
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