Roblox Faces Australian Child Safety Warning Over Online Grooming Risks

Roblox continues to face scrutiny in Australia over concerns that adults can contact children through the platform, despite safety improvements introduced last year. Australian eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant said Roblox still needs to do more to prevent adults from reaching children through indirect channels.

In a recent investigation, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner identified gaps in Roblox’s child protection measures. The agency found that unknown adults could still send connection requests to children, while certain profile details—including usernames, connections, avatar images, and interests—remained visible across the platform.

According to eSafety, connection requests may not trigger alerts for parents. Publicly visible contact lists could also allow malicious users to identify and target additional children.

The agency raised further concerns about adults locating children on forums outside Roblox and commenting on their posts without the knowledge or consent of parents or caregivers. These risks have increased scrutiny of how gaming platforms manage child privacy, direct messaging, and online grooming threats.

Australia’s online safety laws require digital platforms to prevent unwanted contact between adults and minors. The rules also require children’s accounts to be private by default. Although Roblox maintains that it meets its legal obligations, the platform has entered into a court-enforceable agreement with eSafety to introduce additional protections within three months.

Roblox has committed to preventing adults from contacting children across the platform without parental consent. Planned changes include making children’s accounts private by default, improving reporting tools for unwanted contact, and notifying users about the consequences of inappropriate behavior after a report is submitted.

Roblox is used by approximately 1.7 million children in Australia, making stronger privacy and child safety controls especially important. Inman-Grant described the planned measures as significant safeguards for one of the country’s most popular children’s online gaming platforms.

Learn more about the concerns raised by Australia’s eSafety Commissioner and the agency’s court-enforceable agreement with Roblox.