A major privacy debate has erupted after Roblox, one of the world’s largest gaming platforms with nearly 36 million daily child users, began implementing mandatory facial recognition for age verification.
The new system scans a user’s face to determine their age bracket, with almost 40% of Roblox’s player base under 13.
Roblox says the facial images are deleted after verification, but the process is handled by third-party vendor Persona, a biometrics company backed by Founders Fund, co-founded by tech billionaire Peter Thiel, whose ventures have also been associated with data analytics firm Palantir.
The involvement of investors tied to large-scale data surveillance firms has amplified concerns about how children’s biometric data may be stored, analysed, or shared.
Civil liberties advocates warn that such programmes risk creating permanent digital profiles for minors, combining facial data with existing behaviour tracking, location information, and algorithmic monitoring already embedded in many online platforms. They argue that the rollout could become a real-world blueprint for broader digital ID systems affecting both children and adults.
With millions of families relying on Roblox, privacy experts say parents should closely follow how the system develops and what safeguards are put in place to protect young users’ biometric information.
REPORT: A gaming platform used by nearly 36 million children is rolling out mandatory facial recognition, and the timing could not be more alarming.
What looks like “child safety” is quickly transforming into a real-world test run for a global digital ID system that pulls in… pic.twitter.com/D6j671MCzM
— Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) November 25, 2025
millions of families relying on Roblox?
What has society come to?
This wouldn’t be so if socialism would not destroy the core family.
Teach your kids to play Board Games , way more fun.
Here’s an idea – turn it off and send the kids outside!
Is there a problem with kids hooked on games and social media – yes.
Will solutions be considered that don’t facilitate mass surveillance – hell no.
I see Russia just banned it. Good move. This is insidious. Tracking people, from cradle to the grave. Where’s the concern on the part of politicians, always banging on about child safety on line? We all know this is where 1984 begins, in earnest.