The UK government is reportedly looking at new rules that would stop children from speaking or messaging with strangers inside online games, with Fortnite and Roblox singled out as prime examples.
The measure is still under consideration, not law. But it would slot directly into the country’s wider online safety push, built around the Online Safety Act 2023 and enforced by Ofcom.
The idea is to cut off open communication between minors and unknown players. That could mean voice chat, text chat, direct messages, and party chat being restricted by default for child accounts.
Both platforms host massive numbers of young players and let them talk to anyone across multiple devices. Fortnite has voice chat, party chat, and cross-platform play. Roblox is essentially a social network built around millions of user-made experiences, with friend systems and in-game chat baked in.
Roblox in particular has faced years of criticism over grooming risks, moderation gaps, and exploitative user-generated content. Fortnite‘s Epic Games already offers cabined accounts for younger users, parental controls, and chat filters, but regulators appear to think optional tools aren’t enough.
The biggest headache is figuring out who’s actually a child. Possible methods include ID checks, credit card verification, facial age estimation, mobile carrier checks, or parental confirmation.
Each option drags in privacy concerns. Handing passports or biometric data to gaming platforms or third-party vendors is a hard sell, especially after recent high-profile data breaches across the tech industry.
Not just a UK thing
Australia is pushing toward banning under-16s from major social platforms. US states are rolling out age-verification laws. The EU’s Digital Services Act already forces large platforms to mitigate risks to minors.
Gaming is just the next frontier. If the UK pulls the trigger, Epic, Roblox Corporation, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo could all be forced to redesign how children communicate inside their ecosystems, or build UK-specific versions of their chat features.
