Roblox Adds Protections for Minors, but Reports Grow of '764 Gang' Terrorizing Kids Online

Roblox, the popular online gaming platform with 151 million users, is adding new safety rules to protect kids after dozens of lawsuits were brought against the company. Critics say the announcement is long overdue after children have been exposed to dangerous elements for many years. 

Roblox will soon have players verify their age using an AI-powered face scan or ID. Kids will only be able to chat with others around their age, not adults. The platform will also give parents more control over who their kids can talk to. 

"By requiring facial age checks to access chat features, we're helping create an age-appropriate environment for every user, and we encourage the broader industry to adopt similar standards," Roblox Chief Safety Officer Matt Kaufman said in a statement.

Roblox also said it would divide users into appropriate age groups: children under 9 years old, children between 9 and 12 years old, between 13 and 15, between 16 and 17, between 18 and 20, and adults 21 and over.
 
The change comes after dozens of lawsuits claim adults used Roblox to harm children.

As CBN News reported, violent and graphic images have been aimed at kids on Roblox. According to the Guardian, children as young as five have been communicating with adults while playing games on the platform. Additionally, researchers have found that, prior to this change, adults and children could easily interact with no effective age verification. 

"Safety controls that exist are limited in their effectiveness, and there are still significant risks for children on the platform," researchers with Revealing Reality told the outlet. 

Many of the games on the site contain sexually explicit themes, including strip clubs, dance clubs, and "Condo Experiences," explains a report from The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE).

"Many youth have reported innocently visiting 'condo experiences' only to be encouraged to visit someone's 'home,' go into the 'bedroom,' and then engage in virtual sexual acts. Other children innocently wander around the games and stumble on this activity," the report describes. 

The new rules are expected to first be rolled out in Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands this December and go global in January.
 
Online safety advocates say there is still more to be done in the fight to keep kids safe online. Donna Rice Hughes, President and CEO of "Enough is Enough," told CBN's Faith Nation it is really up to parents to monitor what their children are doing online. 

"We've always encouraged parents to let their kids play...with people that that parent knows and approves of," she explained. "Parents have the ability, through the tools these platforms provide, to limit who their kids are interacting with."

Hughes' organization is raising awareness about a violent extremist network 764, which is threatening the lives of teens while they are online. 

According to ABC News, the "sadistic" 764 network is preying on vulnerable children, often eliciting private information and intimate sexual images from them and then blackmailing them.

The FBI arrested a 21-year-old man in New Jersey last week who blackmailed teenage girls into sending him sexually explicit images of themselves, while also planning to launch ISIS-style terrorist attacks inside the U.S., even allegedly collecting zip ties, body armor, ski masks, and books about bombmaking at his home.

And three weeks ago, Leslie Taylor of Seattle and her husband visited the cemetery that now holds the ashes of their 13-year-old son Jay, who livestreamed his suicide after authorities say he was pushed to do it by members of 764.

"I'll call them a child terrorist gang," Hughes explained. "There are over 250 investigations, and they are actually preying on kids, really around the ages of 10 to 17, again, on social media platforms and gaming platforms like Roblox and Discord. Why? Because where kids play, predators prey."

"But whether it's 764 or anyone else, predators are out there looking for your kids and grooming them," she warned. 

She adds that gaming platforms like Roblox are especially problematic because "kids are online playing, having fun."

"Their guard is down, and so a predator can easily come in, befriend them, you know, be their gamer buddy, teach them some new tricks of the trade, and then get them...into a private area where they can then abuse them," she described. 

Hughes adds that parents don't have to feel lost when it comes to protecting kids. "Enough is Enough" provides information and resources so that you can be online safely under direct supervision. 

You can find those resources by clicking here.

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