Roblox's Age Verification Is a Joke

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Age-verification is all the rage these days. Governments around the world are putting the pressure on tech companies to make sure users are actually the age they should be in order to access their services. Sometimes, that means uploading an ID to prove your age; other times, it involves an AI system guessing how old you are based on your appearance, activity, and behavior.

Roblox is the latest platform to roll out new age-verification rules, following intense criticism from parents, researchers, and even attorneys general, who, among other claims, assert that Roblox enables predators to connect with children via the platform. In response, the company announced new age-verification rules last September and November before rolling them out in select countries in December. This week, Roblox put them into effect in the U.S. That all sounds good—the problem is, the system is a bit of a disaster.
How Roblox's age verification system should work

To verify your age on Roblox, you first complete a "Facial Age Estimation," which uses your device's camera to scan your face within the Roblox app. All photos and video sent through this verification system are forwarded to Persona, an age-verification service, and are subsequently deleted, according to Roblox. (If you're 13 or older, you can also submit an ID to verify your age instead.)

Predators are everywhere. It's a moral panic, but sometimes the danger is real. Many animators, teachers, Youtubers and especially priests turn out to be predators. I don't know why it's such an epidemic, but it is.

Of course, the Rusty Red States would rather rip out their own tongues than admit most priests are predators. And I still remember when the media geniuses thought, wrongly, that Animal Crossing was putting kids in extreme danger.

My grandkids are hooked on it. Their Mom lets them, I have no say.
They have no imagination, I had a giant appliance box and instead of making it into a house or space ship they crawled in it and got on their phone.

My grandkids are hooked on it. Their Mom lets them, I have no say.
They have no imagination, I had a giant appliance box and instead of making it into a house or space ship they crawled in it and got on their phone.