Roblox Just Got Slapped With a New Classification & It Could Mean Some Unwelcome Changes

Another day, another milestone for Roblox. The gaming platform has been trying to convince brands and players that it’s grown beyond obbies. Regulators around the world are starting to agree. Over the last few months, Roblox has managed to get onto the radar of the U.S. Senate, incur the ire of Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, and continue to try to get ahead of slow-rolling scandals. All of this is happening at a time when the company is trying to position itself as gaming’s future. The company recently crossed a significant threshold in Europe. It’s that growth that has actually triggered the most recent government interaction the company is having to deal with. As Roblox becomes more than a gaming platform, it’s now hitting the kind of milestones reserved for social media networks, and the European Union is reclassifying Roblox as such.

On August 31st, The European Commision designated Roblox a “Very Large Online Platform.” Also known as a VLOP, the classification is reserved for digital platforms with more than 45 million active monthly users under the EU’s Digital Services Act. Roblox reported an average of 46.6 million active users for the last three months, triggering the change. This new classification puts them in the same category as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and X. It also adds a new layer of scrutiny. Roblox has four months to meet its new requirements.

Roblox Is Facing Increased Scrutiny Around the World

Roblox had already been covered under the DSA, but crossing the VLOP threshold forces the company to take extra steps to ensure user privacy and safety. The company is now required to regularly look for systemic risks and show the EU what its doing to correct anything flagged. These regulations include monitoring for illegal content, public security, fundamental rights on the platform, and potential harm to users’ physical and mental well-being. There are also specific rules for minors on the platform, something Roblox has already spent much of the last year trying to address. And to make sure they’re staying in line they’ll be subjected to something no corporation likes to hear: audits.

The EU rules aren’t limited to child safety or content moderation. They also cover advertising, transparency, and recommended content. VLOPs have to give users access to a recommendation system that isn’t based on profiling. That’s a potentially big change for Roblox, where its discovery algorithms are rooted in cookies and can determine what experiences get a real chance on the platform.

Europe isn’t the only place looking closer. Senators Dick Durbin and Josh Hawley have opened a bipartisan investigation into child safety on Roblox in the US. At the moment, one of the few US laws regulating the platform is COPPA (The Children’s Online Privacy Act), which bars platforms from knowingly collecting data from kids under 13 without a parent’s consent. The FTC is reportedly looking to tighten those rules around age verification technology. The company is also facing a growing number of individual lawsuits accusing Roblox of negligently failing to protect minors and misrepresenting its safety features. Nevada, Alabama, and West Virginia secured multi-million dollar settlements from the company while other states have moved forward with investigations and lawsuits of their own.

Roblox is fighting to show lawmakers and regulators that it didn’t knowingly cross any lines. In this instance, however, they clearly did, the line just happened to be a monthly visitors goal.