Roblox fully complies with PP Tunas, commits to regulating game access for children
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Communication and Digital (Menkomdigi) Meutya Hafid announced that the gaming platform Roblox has fully complied with PP Tunas as a regulation to keep Indonesian children safe in the digital space, committing to special arrangements regarding game access for children.
Several game access arrangements for Indonesian children implemented by Roblox include disabling communication features with unknown users and the obligation to perform age verification using facial recognition technology.
“So we appreciate Roblox for conveying its compliance commitment, where Roblox has started to conduct age verification for all its users,” said Meutya during a press conference on the development of PP Tunas at the Ministry of Komdigi Office, Jakarta, on Thursday.
With Roblox’s compliance to PP Tunas, it means that all eight digital platforms designated to undergo the initial implementation of this rule have met the stipulated provisions.
From the discussion, it was agreed that Roblox must perform age verification for all its users in Indonesia, including adult users.
Roblox records that there are about 23 million child players in Indonesia out of a total of 45 million players. This rule will apply to tens of millions of those players.
Age verification will later serve as the basis for Roblox to determine games suitable for the account owner’s age.
If users do not comply with the age verification requirements using facial recognition technology, the relevant account will automatically have its communication features disabled.
Furthermore, to address gaming addiction issues, it was agreed that Roblox provide special settings accessible to parents to limit screen time or the time children spend playing games.
“This becomes the first games rule, perhaps in the world, because countries that delay child account access are usually only for social media. But in Indonesia, this is the first to be applied to games. We are quite appreciative of Roblox for complying with the rules in force in Indonesia,” Meutya concluded.
Roblox’s Vice President of Global Public Policy, Nicky Jackson Colaco, on the same occasion stated that PP Tunas is an important rule to protect families in Indonesia, so they are fully committed to complying with PP Tunas.
Nicky then further explained the mechanism for regulating game access on their platform. After users perform age verification, if users are identified as under 16 years old, they will be directed to have a Roblox Kids or Roblox Select account.
Then for users aged 13-15 years, they will get a special account called Roblox Select. This account allows communication to take place but is limited only to known parties. Users whose identities are unknown cannot communicate with the user.
Similar to Roblox Kids, there will be special themes applied on the platform to differentiate from adult accounts.
“Indonesia is clearly one of the countries leading in child safety, we are very proud to serve Indonesia’s dynamic and spirited community, and to provide a positive online space for learning, creating, and having fun for millions of players,” said Nicky.