Communications Minister Anika Wells puts popular game Roblox on notice over child predator concerns

Australia’s Communications Minister has demanded an urgent meeting with the company behind the popular children’s online game Roblox over concerns the platform is being infiltrated by predators targeting minors.

The multiplayer gaming app is played by more than 90 million people around the world — most of them children and some as young as six years old — but recent concerns have emerged about its safety controls.

In a letter to Roblox, Labor frontbencher Anika Wells expressed alarm at “reports of children being exposed to graphic and gratuitous user-generated content on the platform, including sexually explicit and suicidal material”.

“Even more disturbing are ongoing reports and concerns about children being approached and groomed by predators, who actively seek to exploit their curiosity and innocence,” the Minister has told the company, in the publicly released letter.

“I note that Roblox engaged extensively with the eSafety Commissioner throughout 2024 and 2025 to develop and implement additional safety measures for children. Despite this, the issues appear to persist.

“This is untenable, and these issues are of deep concern to many Australians parents and carers. I therefore seek an urgent meeting with you to discuss the steps Roblox is taking to improve safety outcomes and experiences on its platform.”

Ms Wells said she would be particularly interested in hearing about “the measures Roblox has taken to restrict children from engaging with high impact experiences, the status of implementing age assurance processes, and restrictions in place to prevent adults from contacting children”.

Gaming and messaging platforms are exempt from Australia’s social media ban, with the restriction so far including 10 well-known platforms — Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, Snapchat, X, YouTube, Reddit, Twitch and Kick.

The onus has been placed on platforms to “detect and deactivate or remove” accounts from existing underage users, or faces fines of up to $50 million.

Ms Wells has also asked Australia’s Classification Board if the PG rating for Roblox remains appropriate, given the game was last assessed in 2018, and has sought its advice on any further measures that could be taken.

“The safety of children online is non-negotiable,” Ms Wells said in a statement.

“The reports we’ve been hearing about children being exposed to graphic content on Roblox, and predators actively using the platform to groom young people, are horrendous. Something must be done – now.”

To avoid being included in the ban, Roblox and other exempt platforms proactively introduced safety measures for younger users around the time it came into effect on December 10.

In November, Roblox began asking young users to voluntarily undertake age verification when using its chat feature while announcing plans to progress to mandatory age checks.

It also blocked children and parents from interacting on their chat features by placing users in age categories and new guardrails on which groups could communicate with each other.

In the wake of Ms Wells notice, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has been asked to examine what powers and tools can be “ramped up” to address the risks to children and any short-term measures that can be introduced before the government legislates a digital duty of care.