Schoolchildren bypass age verification in Roblox with drawn-on mustaches and beards

The online platform Roblox recently introduced facial recognition for age verification. It soon became clear that the system was extremely easy to fool. Schoolchildren verify their age using fake mustaches, drawn-on beards, and wrinkles.

Recently, the creators of the online platform Roblox, which has been repeatedly criticized for its weak protection of minors, decided to clean up the face verification system by introducing two verification options: showing the system your face or uploading a passport. However, less than a week after its launch, serious critical issues have already emerged, indicating the system's ineffectiveness.

As it turns out, young geniuses have discovered that the high-tech security can be fooled... with a pair of fake mustaches. Children simply put on a fake mustache for the system to identify them as adults. Some use photos of adult celebrities or draw wrinkles and beards on their faces. However, the system can also misclassify adults as teenagers; for example, a 23-year-old user was classified as 16-17, while an 18-year-old was classified as 13-15.

Many users are demanding a complete revocation of the system, claiming that it is not only ineffective but also detrimental to the platform's social component. Since its implementation, activity in Roblox chats has plummeted from 90% to 36.5%—a serious blow to a platform whose economy is built on social interactions and the display of in-game purchases. Roblox must find a balance between the safety of minors and preserving the social dynamics that made the platform so popular.