Roblox settles child-safety suit

Roblox has agreed to a Nevada settlement that will force new child-safety rules on the platform and send more than $12 million to the state. (abcnews.com) Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford announced the deal on April 15, 2026, instead of filing litigation. The agreement requires age verification for all users, restricts nighttime notifications for minors, and adds tighter controls over who children can chat with. (ktnv.com) (abcnews.com) The money is split across several pieces: $10 million over three years for Nevada youth programs and other non-digital activities, $1 million over two years for an online safety awareness campaign, and $1.5 million for a law-enforcement liaison position tied to platform safety concerns. (ktnv.com) (abcnews.com) The biggest operational change is how Roblox will sort children and adults. Nevada said Roblox will use facial age-estimation technology, government-issued identification for age assurance, and behavior monitoring to catch accounts that may have the wrong age attached to them. (ktnv.com) (upi.com) The chat rules also get narrower. Nevada said adult users and users under 16 will not be allowed to chat unless they are marked as trusted friends, and that connection may require parental consent depending on the account settings. (ktnv.com) (abcnews.com) Nevada also said communications involving minors will not be encrypted, and that children whose accounts are not linked to a parent account will be pushed into a more restricted child mode. The state framed both changes as tools for oversight and faster intervention when safety problems surface. (ktnv.com) (upi.com) The case lands as Roblox is already under pressure in other states. ABC News, citing Nevada officials, reported that Texas and Kentucky have litigation alleging the company failed to protect children from predators and other harms on the platform. (abcnews.com) Roblox said it disputes the claims behind Nevada’s complaint but agreed to the resolution anyway. Chief Safety Officer Matt Kaufman said the company worked with Ford on a “landmark agreement,” while Ford called it a first-of-its-kind model for how online platforms handle young users. (upi.com) (abcnews.com) Some of the changes line up with product updates Roblox announced on April 13. The company said it will roll out Roblox Kids accounts for ages 5 to 8 and Roblox Select accounts for ages 9 to 15 in early June, with age-based defaults for content access, communication settings, and parental controls. (about.roblox.com) Roblox says the platform has about 151.5 million daily active users, and Ford said it is used by nearly half of children under 16 in the United States. Nevada is betting that a settlement tied to chat, age checks, and parental oversight will change how one of the country’s biggest youth gaming platforms operates. (ktnv.com)