LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — State Attorney General Aaron Ford announced Wednesday that Nevada has reached a settlement with online gaming platform Roblox in a historic move to protect children online.
"We live in a world where constantly changing technologies emerge every single day," Ford said. "Children today don't remember a world without the internet—a world without almost continuous connection with their peers and friends. These platforms and this technology are not going anywhere, but that doesn't mean we don't take the necessary steps to protect our children."
Watch the full announcement here:
Roblox has around 151.5 million daily active users and is used by nearly half of the entire U.S. population of children under 16 years old, Ford said.
"This settlement will create a safer environment for our children online, and I hope it will serve as a bellwether for how online interactive platforms allow our state's youth to use their products," Ford said.
Key Settlement Provisions
Age Verification and Content Control
- All users must undergo age verification to ensure children only have access to age-appropriate content on the Roblox platform using age estimation technology and government-issued ID for age assurance
- The platform will use behavior monitoring to identify users who may have been aged incorrectly
Enhanced Parental Controls
- Parents will have expanded control over their children's use of the platform, allowing them to decide who their children are talking to and which games they are playing
- Adult users and users under 16 cannot chat unless they are trusted friends on the platform, which could require parental consent depending on account settings. This ensures that the child knows the person outside of the platform
- This system allows children to talk to their friends while being protected from child predators
Communication Safety
- No communications involving minors will be encrypted
- Notifications will be restricted during sleep hours
Financial Commitments
- Roblox will spend $1 million over the next two years on an awareness campaign to educate minor users and adults on online safety
- $1.5 million will fund a law enforcement liaison position that will offer workshops and training for law enforcement
- $10 million will go to the state over the next three years for preventive programs to help children participate in non-digital programs
"These changes and contributions will make real differences for the safety and well-being of our children," Ford said. "I hope this signals to those companies we are facing in the courts right now that we are serious about protecting our youth."
Representatives from Roblox reached out to Channel 13 after Ford's announcement to share the follwing statement:
We are pleased to have reached this resolution with Attorney General Ford, which reflects Roblox’s continued commitment to fostering online health and safety for kids. We share the Attorney General’s focus on protecting children in Nevada and around the world, and we believe this collaborative path is the right way to prioritize the well-being of our community.
This agreement is a testament to our ongoing mission to set the gold standard for online safety - one informed by our productive discussions with Attorney General Ford and leaders around the world. These conversations have helped shape several critical measures including:While we dispute the claims in the complaint, this landmark agreement is a step forward in our work to create a healthy, safe, age-appropriate environment.
- Industry-Leading Facial Age Estimation: Implementing technology to automatically restrict chat, limiting younger users’ chat to only users in similar age groups by default.
- Roblox Kids and Roblox Select Accounts: Introducing new age-based accounts for users under 16 that provide access to a dynamically updated catalog of games vetted through a multi-step suitability check.
- Robust Parental Controls: Maintaining a robust suite of controls that give parents oversight over access to chat, screen time and spending limits and adjusting what content their children can access.
- Expanded Parental Oversight: Extending key parental controls - previously available for users under 13 - to include users under the age of 16, providing parents with continued visibility and management as their children grow.
- Dedicated Law Enforcement Support: Establishing a dedicated Nevada-based law enforcement liaison with a 24/7 direct line for requests.
"Roblox is proud to have worked alongside Attorney General Ford to reach this landmark agreement, which builds on our work to establish a new standard for digital safety," said Matt Kaufman, chief safety officer at Roblox. "This resolution creates a blueprint for how industry and regulators can work together to protect the next generation of digital citizens. We have no finish line when it comes to safety, and we are grateful for the Attorney General’s advocacy in pioneering this path forward."
Safety and Security Concerns
As part of the collaboration between 13 Investigates and ABC News Investigates, we looked into the rise of Gen Z hackers and how they are being recruited on platforms like Roblox.
According to the FBI's Cyber Division in New York, the average age of arrest for any crime in the United States is 37. However, the average age of arrest for a cybercrime is 19.
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One of those teens that was recruited from Roblox is Matthew Lane, who was 19 when he took part in the PowerSchool breach last January. Justice Department officials stated the breach "put at risk the security of 60 million children and 10 million teachers." Some of the data exposed included names, social security numbers, dates of birth, family information, addresses, grades, confidential medical information, and passwords.
ABC News Investigates caught up with Lane two days before he reported to federal prison after he was sentenced to four years behind bars. He said Roblox went from a gaming platform to a hacking training ground fairly quickly.
"You see other people that are like, they got crazy stuff in-game or they're, you know, killing over and over again with like some crazy stuff. You're like 'how are they doing that? I want to do that.' So I just started researching and a friend I knew, he put me on a bot, this. game-cheating, Roblox-cheating program. And then, I started to get into that and it just spiraled from there," Lane told ABC News. "It's a very toxic and edgy corner of the internet and like, not a lot of people know that ... You realize you're good at this thing that can make you money, in a bad way. It's easy, easy money, even though it's dirty."
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Lane said he felt relieved after being arrested.
"I want to take accountability for everything I've done, for everything I did. Not just recently, but for everything I ever did. It was disgusting. It was greedy. It was rooted in my own insecurities," Lane said. "It was wrong in every aspect, and unjustifiable, and I am forever in debt to everyone morally. But now, I need to work, keep working on myself and just pay my debt to society by taking my punishment."
ABC News Investigates reached out Roblox to ask about claims that cyber criminals are finding new recruits on their platforms.
A Roblox representative told them that Roblox has established the HackerOne Bug Bounty program to encourage people to ethically report security issues and they have "cutting edge anti-cheat systems" that are designed to prevent exploits in Roblox experiences.
"We work closely with law enforcement and other partners to report cyber-enabled crime through the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)," a statements reads in part. "We're also a member of the Domestic Security Alliance Council (DSAC), which has been an integral partner for exchanging threat intel when certain security incidents occur."