Digital Safety:

Roblox

At St Louis, we recognise how challenging the online space can be for many of our families. Supporting our children to make safe choices in this area is of paramount importance, especially given recent platforms that have been in the spotlight. 

Alongside our focused work with Inform and Empower in the classroom, we hope to use this space in our newsletter to share updates, information and knowledge about the online environment to help you make informed decisions about how you support your child.

This week's focus, Roblox.

We have recently encountered some concerns raised by members of our community around the use of Roblox and some of the interactions that are occurring through the platform.

Coincidentally, the eSafety Commissioner has also provided a Media Release in the past week explaining how Roblox's protocols are not currently meeting the commitments it made last year with Australia's online safety regulator. You can find the original article here or scroll down for a summary of the keypoints.  

Roblox on notice over ongoing concerns about online child grooming

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has placed Roblox under closer scrutiny due to ongoing concerns about child grooming, exploitation and exposure to harmful content. Although the platform previously committed to stronger protections — including private accounts for under-16s, stricter chat controls, parental settings and preventing children from communicating with adults — eSafety will now directly test whether these safeguards are working in practice. New national online safety rules coming into effect in March will also require gaming platforms to actively prevent grooming, sexual extortion and the sharing of harmful material, with significant penalties possible if companies fail to comply. Parents are encouraged to remain aware of their child’s online activity and make use of available parental controls.

If you have any requests about future content for this newsletter area, please contact Thomson on twood@stlouisaspendale.com