Roblox is stepping up its age verification system for users who want to message other players and implementing age-based chats so kids, teens and adults will only be able to communicate with people around their own age. The moves come as the popular gaming platform continues to face criticism and lawsuits over child safety and a growing number of states and countries are implementing age verification laws. Roblox said it will start enforcing age checks in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands in the first week of December and the rest of the world in early January.
Texas' attorney general is praising a Supreme Court ruling upholding a state law aimed at blocking children from seeing pornography online. Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton said Friday companies "have no right to expose children to pornography and must institute reasonable age verification measures." Nearly half the states have passed similar age verification laws as smartphones and other devices make it easier to access online porn. The Free Speech Coalition says the Texas law puts an unfair burden on adults by requiring them to submit personal information that could be vulnerable to hacking. District courts initially blocked laws in Indiana, Tennessee and Texas, but appeals courts let the laws take effect.
The New York state Legislature has passed a bill that would allow parents to block their kids from getting social media posts suggested by a platform's algorithm — a regulation that tries to curtail feeds that critics argue are addicting to children. Lawmakers in the state Assembly gave the bill final approval on Friday. The move comes amid heightened concern about social media use among children and an ever-unfolding push to regulate tech platforms in different ways at the state and federal levels. The governor is expected to sign the bill. It would take effect 180 days after the attorney general establishes mechanisms to determine a user's age and parental consent.
