By Dexerto | Created at 2026-06-18 10:30:03 | Updated at 2026-06-18 13:08:53
3 hours ago
Roblox’s chief safety officer has hit back at the UK government over its plans to include the game in its social media ban for under-16s.
Back in late 2025, Australia became the first country to start cracking down on social media usage for teenagers. The plans had been in place for a year before it came into action, with access to the likes of YouTube, Snapchat, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, and more being restricted.
The United Kingdom and Canada have also followed suit, with the UK announcing its plans on June 15. Similar to Australia, under-16s will have restricted access to several high-profile social media platforms, with gaming also being affected.
On the gaming side of things, access to voice and text chat will be affected, leading to calls from Roblox to tread carefully.
Speaking to Sky News, Roblox’s chief safety officer, Matt Kaufman, said they “want to engage with policymakers” to ensure that they get things right.
“We caution about going overboard with outright bans,” Kaufman said.
“We think that platforms like ours play an incredibly important role in kids’ lives. Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t want to collaborate with policymakers. We do want to engage with policymakers, and we do want to find what’s right for our kids and teens.”
Kaufman admitted that Roblox is “complicated” and can be “difficult” to explain to parents about what it is, but added that there are new safety features in place which make it “easier” to protect kids.
This includes turning off chat for anyone who doesn’t verify their age, or is under the age of nine, as well as restricting which games they can play.
The platform has been criticized in the past with regards to child safety, with parts of the United States investigating it’s practices.
Roblox has also faced a growing wave of lawsuits over child safety for years, with Bloomberg reporting that more than 150 federal child safety suits could be pushed to behind closed-doors arbitration rather than a court hearing.
YouTube has also addressed being a part of the crackdown, stating that it could push users to “less safe” services as a result.
