Online gaming platform Roblox has announced that users under the age of 13 will no longer be able to send direct messages to other users outside of games or experiences.

As part of an update to parental controls and safety systems, the gaming platform has integrated a number of built-in settings and user-friendly tools aimed at providing greater control for parents and caregivers.

By default, users under the age of 13 will not be able to send messages directly to others; parents can change the settings by accessing Parental Control.

Parents who want to be more involved in monitoring their children's activities will be able to link their Roblox account to their child's, after verifying themselves with an ID or credit card.

After linking the accounts, they will be able to manage their child's experience and access from Parental Control.

In the Parental Controls dashboard, parents can now see their child’s average screen time over the past week, as well as their child’s friends list. Parents and caregivers can also set daily screen-time limits. Once the limit is reached, their child cannot access Roblox until the next day.

The features aim to enable parents and caregivers to access parental controls from their own devices rather than from their child’s device to monitor children’s screen time.

“Part of our long-term vision is to give parents granular controls to monitor and limit how much time their child spends on Roblox, which is something we've heard is important to parents,” the company said in a statement.

The company added it has integrated more than 30 improvements to its safety and policy systems this year, including enhancements to parental controls, new content labels, and built-in protections for young users.

It added that the changes were developed and implemented after multiple rounds of internal research, including interviews, usability studies, and international surveys with parents and children, and consultation with experts from child safety and media literacy organisations, including the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) and the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE).

Stephen Balkam, chief executive at the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), said, “FOSI applauds Roblox’s ongoing efforts to prioritise the safety and well-being of its youngest users. By empowering parents with new controls that allow them to oversee their child’s activity in a flexible, meaningful way, Roblox is taking significant steps toward building a safer digital environment.”

Michelle Ciulla Lipkin, executive director of NAMLE, said, “NAMLE is proud to partner with Roblox and support their commitment to making the online space safer and more civil for young people.”

---