Roblox, Discord: More platforms face Aussie social media ban
Roblox sits “on the line” between gaming and social media as Australia’s landmark under-16s ban takes shape, with the watchdog promising more platforms could follow.
Australian children under 16 could be banned from Roblox, with the popular gaming platform on notice ahead of Australia’s world-leading social media ban for kids.
The online safety watchdog is vowing the list of sites that will be banned from December 10 – including Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube, Threads, X, Reddit and Kick – won’t be “set and forget”.
Platforms will be required to take reasonable steps to keep Australians aged under 16 off their platforms, or face a $49.5m fine.
Communications Minister Anika Wells stressed the list could be expanded, and was designed to give parents the certainty to say to their kids: “It is against the law for me to let you use this platform.”
In September, Roblox announced a new feature that allowed young users to capture, edit and share 30-second game play clips in a feed similar to TikTok.
The feature is not yet available to Australian users.
eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant said Roblox was not included on the initial list because its significant purpose was simply gaming and not social interaction, but cautioned it was “on the line”.
“We had to put our minds to what is the sole and significant purpose – online gaming, right?” she said, explaining that if the ability to game was taken away, kids would be unlikely to keep using it for chatting.
“But there’s chat functionality in the US, they have launched a program called Moments, which is very much like stories, which is online social interaction.
“We will be watching as well and if they start rolling out features that look more like they’re becoming a social media company, than an online gaming company, then we will seek to capture them.”
Roblox came under fresh scrutiny this week after Malaysian police suggested the platform may have influenced a nine-year-old to stab his younger brother.
Last week, AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett spoke about a disturbing global phenomenon where sadistic men are using the Roblox platform to groom and abuse vulnerable girls for their own sick and twisted pleasure.
Ms Inman Grant said she had used codes and standards in her office’s negotiations with Roblox.
“So based on that negotiation, by the end of this year, Roblox will be rolling out age-assurance technologies,” she said.
“Their primary user base are five to 13-year-olds, but it’s a co-mingle platform. They know they’re adults, so we asked (Roblox) to take other specific steps, including not allowing adults to contact children without specific parental consent and putting on privacy at the highest default.
“So we’re using other tools in our arsenal to keep these other platforms safer … because just because a platform is exempted through the legislative rules doesn’t mean it’s safe.”
Popular streaming platform Twitch is also under consideration but has yet to be added despite a similar platform, Kick, being included.
Ms Inman Grant said the ban was not a compare-and-contrast exercise.
“In order to be consistent and fair, we assessed each platform or service on its merits against the criteria in the legislative rules,” she said.
The watchdog is also monitoring chat app Discord – which recently implemented age assurance for Australian users – as well as game platform Steam, OpenAI’s AI-generated video platform Sora, and Bluesky, and considering whether to include them in the ban in future.
Ms Inman Grant said platforms not captured need to monitor any spike in users after the ban comes into effect, and the government would be keeping an eye on any such “migratory patterns”.
“We’re talking to a range of other platforms and we’re asking them to look for migratory patterns, so if there is a huge spike in Blue Sky, for instance, before or after, we expect them to come and talk to us about that,” she said.
“We can even look at the (Apple App Store) or Google Play and see which are the most popular apps being downloaded right now. Yubo is one of them.
“We’re in conversations with them.”
Ms Wells said it was the duty of platforms “every single day to consider whether they are going to be caught up in the law”.
But Opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh accused the government of making policy on the run, and warned that subsequent additions to the social media ban list would confuse parents and children.
Ms Inman Grant said companies had been given ample notice that they would be included in the ban.
She said the burden went back on to the platforms themselves to assess if they might be subject to the ban.
From December 10, eSafety will have formal information powers among an array of other methods to monitor compliance and enforcement.
With 34 days to go until the ban comes into force, Ms Wells and Ms Inman Grant said their focus was on supporting parents, educators and children.
Already, children are openly scheming on social media about how to skirt the ban. Ms Wells said the government was not chasing perfection and “kids will be kids”, but suggested such efforts would likely be blocked by the tech changes required under the law.
“I would also point you specifically to when TikTok went offline for 24 hours in the (United) States,” Ms Wells said.
“People tried all kinds of methods to get around that, like VPNs, etc, and were in the vast majority, unsuccessful.”
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Originally published as Roblox, Discord: More platforms face Aussie social media ban
