A month after introducing mandatory facial verification to access chats on its platform, Roblox says 45% of its daily active users passed age verification as of January 31.
Roblox’s launch of age checks followed a wave of child safety lawsuits, including lawsuits from the attorneys general of Texas, Kentucky and Louisiana. The lawsuits were filed in response to reports that Roblox is exposing young users to dangerous risks such as grooming and explicit content.
To complete the age verification process, users must open the Roblox app, allow access to their camera, and follow a series of on-screen instructions for facial verification. Once the age verification is processed, Roblox says it will delete any user images or videos. Verification is handled by a third-party vendor, Persona, which also deletes images and videos after the process is complete, Roblox says.
Once users complete age verification, they can access age-based chats, which means they can only interact with others in a similar age group. There are six age groups: under 9, 9 to 12, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, 18 to 20 and over 21. Users in each age group can chat with people in groups directly above and below theirs. For example, users in the 9-12 category can chat with people in their own group, as well as those in the under 9 and 13-15 groups.
If the age verification process incorrectly estimates a user’s age, they can appeal the decision and verify their age using alternative methods, including identity verification or through parental control, which allows parents to update their child’s age.
The company said during its Q4 2025 earnings release this week that age-adjusted data reveals a younger user base than self-reported data. This is not surprising, and even Roblox itself said that it expected this result. Of the 45% of age-verified users, 35% are under 13, 38% are between 13 and 17, and 27% are over 18.
When the company implemented the new process, there were some concerns about specific loopholes. For example, Wired reported that eBay had listings of age-verified Roblox accounts for minors as young as nine. Although eBay removed the listings, concerns remain that predators could gain access to accounts posing as minors by tricking the system.
Eliza Jacobs, Roblox’s senior director of product policy, told TechCrunch on Friday that the company has 24/7 age verification systems in place in the background to address these concerns and prevent this type of abuse.
Jacobs said the platform looks for “any signals in your account that indicate that the age we now have on that account is not consistent with the activity on that account. Whether it’s the kinds of games you play or who you talk to. We also have keystroke analysis. The way adults write is different than the way kids write. So (we have) a lot of systems running in the background if we have a precise reason on the account to make sure that person has any background reason to make sure it’s not accurate, we’ll put in more checks to make sure we’ve got it right.”
She noted that another way Roblox looks for age accuracy is by tracking how a person uses emojis. Older generations tend to use emoticons at the end of sentences as punctuation, while younger people often place them in the middle of sentences, Jacobs explained.
In addition to using age controls to make the platform safer, Roblox CEO and co-founder David Baszucki said during the company’s earnings call that the data collected as a result of these controls will be used to grow revenue.
“In the 18+ demographic, we were able to find a bigger growth opportunity than previously thought,” Baszucki said. “We estimate that our 18+ cohort is growing by more than 50%, and this cohort monetizes 40% more than younger cohorts.”
He further said that Roblox is optimizing its platform to facilitate the growth of high-grossing genres popular with older users, such as shooters, RPGs, sports and racing.
Roblox says it will continue to improve its security measures to respond to evolving risks and user needs.