Roblox is often described as a safe, child friendly gaming platform, but new survey data suggests that many children are using it without its strongest safety protections enabled.
A national survey of 1,000 parents found that 47% have not activated Roblox’s “account restrictions” feature, one of the platform’s most comprehensive safety tools. The setting limits children to platform approved content and is designed to create a tightly controlled environment. When left disabled, children can access a far broader range of user generated games and interactions.
The findings come amid growing legal and public scrutiny of Roblox’s approach to child safety. In Louisiana, the state’s Attorney General has filed a lawsuit accusing the company of failing to enforce child protection measures and enabling exploitative content. Florida’s Attorney General has also issued criminal subpoenas, describing the platform as a breeding ground for child predators. Separately, journalist Chris Hansen has announced a forthcoming documentary produced with law enforcement and advocacy groups examining Roblox’s handling of child safety concerns.
Despite these developments, many parents remain confident in Roblox’s existing protections. The survey found that 61% of parents believe the platform’s parental controls are sufficient to prevent their child from being contacted by a potential predator. At the same time, 29% reported discovering content or interactions they believed should have been blocked by those controls, highlighting a gap between parental expectations and lived experience.
Children between the ages of 9 and 12 make up a significant portion of Roblox’s player base. According to the survey, 47% of parents said their child who plays Roblox falls within this age range. Online safety researchers often describe this period as a critical developmental stage, when children become more socially aware but still lack the maturity to fully assess online risks. Studies using the “4Cs” framework, covering content, conduct, contact, and consumer risks, show that children under 13 face layered online threats that require tailored safeguards.
The survey also revealed widespread gaps in parental awareness and engagement with Roblox’s safety tools:
- 36% of parents either do not use Roblox’s parental controls or are not aware they exist.
- Nearly 30% believe Roblox does a poor job of educating parents about its safety features.
- 23% of mothers said they never review or adjust their child’s parental control settings.
- By contrast, almost 40% of fathers reported checking these settings weekly.
- 24% of Millennial parents with a child using Roblox said they have not learned about the platform’s parental controls.
Respondents also expressed clear preferences for stronger safety measures. Two thirds of parents, 66%, said real time suspicious chat alerts would most improve their confidence in the platform. Parents indicated that immediate notifications about potential predatory behaviour, bullying, or inappropriate contact would offer reassurance beyond existing content filters.
The survey suggests that Roblox’s safety tools are often treated as set and forget features, even though both children’s online behaviour and the platform itself change over time. Without regular review and adjustment, settings that once seemed adequate may no longer provide sufficient protection.
A Case for Women said the findings show that the boundary between a curated environment and an open digital space on Roblox often depends on a single overlooked setting. With nearly half of parents leaving account restrictions disabled, millions of children may be navigating a more unpredictable online world than their parents realise.
The organisation said that checking and enabling this feature remains one of the simplest steps parents can take to strengthen their child’s digital safety.
A Case for Women focuses on educating parents about online risks affecting children. Further information on legal action related to Roblox is available on its Roblox sexual abuse lawsuit page.
