Roblox and Fortnite put kids at risk with weak age checks
eSafety found major gaming apps rely on kids' self-declared ages and lack chat protections against sexual exploitation.
Australia's eSafety watchdog audited gaming platforms used by around nine in 10 Australian children. It found safety gaps.
Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft rely on kids to type in their age without checking. Group chat and messaging features on several platforms can't spot grooming, sexual abuse or violent content.
Some gaming companies use old methods to catch bad language. They train their systems only on old data and don't update them regularly.
Valve, which runs Steam, didn't join data-sharing programs meant to find patterns of child abuse across the gaming industry.
Why it mattersKids on these platforms can be targeted for grooming or sexual abuse. Lack of age checks removes a basic protection.
AustraliaNine in 10 Australian children aged 8 to 17 play games on these platforms, making the safety failures a direct risk to millions of young Australians.
Corroborated bythenightly.com.au
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 3 h ago
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