Roblox launches new safety features after facing multiple lawsuits regarding child safety

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is currently suing Roblox and Discord claiming the apps are not safe for children to use.

Since this lawsuit that came out in May, Roblox has taken measures to help better ensure safety. Now, there are a couple levels to Roblox: kids 5-8 have no chat features, but 9-to-15-year-olds have access to chats with other kids their age. There are also extended parent controls now available for kids up to 15.

Roblox also now has a virtual age check that requires users to take pictures of their face, rotating from side to side to estimate age.

ABC57's Sidney Moore spoke with a Michiana parent who saw some of these unsafe features right inside her home, something that she never expected considering Roblox started as an educational program.

Patricia Byars-Curry says she has three kids that used to play Roblox, but her 11-year-old is the one who encountered non-age-appropriate content within the chat features. The daughter played Roblox, which then led her to a Discord chat.

Byars-Curry explains, “There were people sending feet pictures and telling each other they loved each other and trying to get them to send like more detailed information, and that was when we completely were just like, nope, we're going to cut that. Then I started researching some things, and realized that they really, honestly, just they protect people who are predating on children, like they're not doing anything about it, and that's not something that we're going to have in our home.”

When trying to go back and go through the history, Byars-Curry hit a bit of a roadblock since Roblox does not save a bunch of information for these chats. Roblox and Discord are both facing multiple lawsuits and pushback for lack of safety according to "Open Class Actions".

For parental safety feature access visit the Parental Controls page on Roblox's website.