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New York Governor Kathy Hochul is making children’s online safety a cornerstone of her administration, and she’s eyeing a platform that often flies under the radar: Roblox.
With progress stagnating in Congress, states have become the primary drivers of internet reforms aimed at protecting children, including age verification laws and new requirements for online platforms. Hochul A. announced Sweeping plan To expand online parental controls and age verification, which she will tout in her State of the State address on Tuesday. It specifically draws from a piece of legislation drafted by State Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Nellie Rozic that aims to fill a gap in previous state legislation in order to include online gaming. Gounardes He said Edge He told a 2024 interview when he first introduced the legislation as the New York Children’s Online Safety Act (NYCOSA) — now the Stop Online Predators Act — that the idea came from parents who wondered whether his previous child safety legislation would cover Roblox, the social gaming platform that is hugely popular among kids.
Based on the bill, Hochul’s plans include expanding requirements for platforms to verify the ages of their users to include online gaming platforms like Roblox. It also wants platforms to keep children’s accounts on the highest privacy settings by default so they can’t be seen or contacted by unknown accounts, and disable AI chatbot features for children. The plan also includes requirements for parents to be able to limit financial transactions on their children’s accounts.
“There’s no reason platforms like Roblox should be any different.”
New York state leaders don’t want Roblox, which is for more Reportedly, 40 percent of users are under 13 years oldto be excluded from the new protection. “From toys to food to cars, we regulate all types of products to keep children safe. There is no reason platforms like Roblox should be any different,” Gounardes said in a statement before the state’s case. “Online platforms like Roblox enable unsafe environments for children, including allowing predators to send explicit messages to children,” Gounardes said in a statement. “We urgently need to pass online safety protections to prevent predators from exploiting children and create safer online environments for children to play.”
Roblox did not immediately provide comment on the state’s state proposal, but Roblox spokesman Eric Porterfield said Edge After Gounardes unveiled legislation in 2024 requiring the company to be a “COPPA-compliant gaming platform designed for all ages,” a reference to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) rule. Porterfield said Roblox “has gone beyond COPPA compliance and created tools and safety systems that meet the unique needs of children and do not support image uploading or other features of social media platforms.” The company has Since its introduction New requirements for users to undergo a facial scan to estimate their age in order to access its chat features.
The United States has been at the forefront of such discussions, as Congress has largely failed to pass new protections
The child online safety proposals were the first of the state plans Hochul reviewed last week, underscoring how important the issue of internet safeguards for children is in states like New York. The United States has been at the forefront of such discussions, as Congress has largely failed to pass new protections since the 1990s. The proposals come alongside offline measures to address children’s mental health, including expanded mental health clinics in schools, and an advisory council comprising 11- to 17-year-olds to inform youth mental health policy. It is based on previous legislation passed in New York State, including the Act Stopping the Exploitation of Addictive (Safe) Feeds for Children Actwhich requires social media companies to obtain parental consent to use “addictive feeds” on children.
But some proposals, e.g Age verificationcomes with its own risks that opponents ranging from industry players to civil liberties groups oppose on the grounds that it could require more data collection and potentially dilute adult speech online. Supreme Court recently Open the door For some, age verification of pornographic sites is in violation of previous decisions, but age-verification platforms that host a wider range of discourse raise thornier questions. Courts across the country have struck down a variety of laws seeking to enforce age verification on the platform and App store levelWhich raises constitutional questions under the First Amendment. But states have continued to try to enact different types of age verification laws nonetheless, creating the possibility of a fractured state standing if some courts ultimately uphold them.
However, many advocates for greater online safeguards applaud Hochul’s plans. “The online games kids play and the social media platforms they use for hours upon hours every day have become a veritable hunting ground for predators,” Jim Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media, said in a statement. “Children and teens need these new protections now more than ever.”