(NewsNation) — Amid worldwide pushes for a more restricted online experience for minors, a popular game is giving parents more power than ever before.
Roblox, which has been downloaded millions of times, has unveiled new parental controls.
With their own device and linked account, guardians can now remotely monitor their child’s gaming experience, lock a child’s private messaging options and set maturity and time limits for the app.
Users under 13 will be allowed only to send broadcast messages by default. If a child wants private messaging capabilities, only a linked parent account can change it for them.
The changes come “after multiple rounds of internal research, including interviews, usability studies, and international surveys with parents and kids, and consultation with experts from child safety and media literacy organizations,” Roblox said in a statement.
The platform came under fire in 2023 for targeted ads that children might not recognize as marketing ploys due to the platform’s already sponsorship-laden environment.
It’s also been the conduit for multiple court cases. John Piecuch, 64, admitted in July to posing as a 13-year-old boy on the platform to solicit sexually explicit photos of a 13-year-old girl and her 5-year-old relative.
Social media bans for minors
Other popular apps among kids — including Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat — have faced calls for similar parental intervention.
Though none have implemented controls as restrictive as Roblox, legislators are moving to control children’s online activity through legal means.
Florida’s law, which was approved as HB 3 earlier this year, is set to take effect Jan. 1. The measure will ban social media accounts for children under 14 and require parental permission for 14- and 15-year-olds.
It’s one of the nation’s most restrictive bans, and it’s drawn a lawsuit from the Computer & Communications Industry Association (Meta, X and Google are members) and co-defendant Netchoice.
The computer lobbying group alleges the bill is “the latest attempt in a long line of government efforts to restrict new forms of constitutionally protected expression based on concerns about their potential effects on minors.”
Several states have considered similar legislation. In Arkansas, a federal judge in August blocked enforcement of a law that required parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts.
In 2023, Utah banned those under 18 from using social media without parental permission. It was temporarily blocked by a federal judge in September, mere days before it would’ve taken effect.