Australia's online safety regulator says it has identified "serious gaps" in how popular gaming platforms such as Roblox, Minecraft and others protect children online.
The department's report states that online game developers have failed to develop a common approach to ensuring the safety of minors on the Steam, Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft platforms. Moreover, according to research, in Australia, 90% of children aged 8 to 17 years play online games.
The report is based on data from the Australian Electronic Safety Commission, which compiled information on how popular gaming platforms among children protected users from serious online threats between October 2025 and March 2026.
“Australian children have the right to play games online without being threatened by abusers, sexual predators, or violent, extremist or other harmful content,” said Internet Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant.
Roblox representatives told the BBC that the company prioritizes the safety of Australian residents, “especially our youngest users.” Roblox also emphasized that the company has “invested heavily” in creating child protection systems, including creating mechanisms to verify the age of users.
The BBC also asked representatives of other platforms for comment - Valve, the creators of Fortnite and Microsoft (the owner of Minecraft).
According to Julie Inman Grant, insufficient security on platforms allows adult predators to contact children and use grooming tactics - for the purpose of sexual exploitation or indoctrination of minors with radical ideas and views.
The report found that Valve, the American gaming giant that owns Steam and Steam Chat, was the only provider not using industry-wide technology to identify and remove malicious content.
The report also states that Valve did not use “proactive” tools to detect material related to child sexual exploitation or abuse in chats: the systems used by the developer mainly detect only cases of fraud.
The report also states that Roblox and Valve do not regularly retrain models that are supposed to detect malicious content and other threats to users.
Additionally, Minecraft and Fortnite (which have special accounts for children) rely heavily on users self-reporting their age, the agency's report said. This means that any user who identifies as an adult can access platform services that are intended for adult users and involve “high-risk communications.”
Steam also relies on user self-reported data, but the report acknowledges that the platform recently introduced age verification using bank cards, and Roblox has tightened its age verification procedures since December last year.
Another issue raised in the report was the inconsistent approach of the four gaming platforms to sharing information and participating in industry initiatives.
Mojang Studios (the developer of Minecraft) and Roblox shared their experience with other gaming platform companies in combating child sexual exploitation and violent extremism online, while Valve did not.
And Epic Games (the creator of Fortnite) did not share information with other platforms about cases of violations as part of a global program aimed at combating online sexual exploitation and abuse of children.
“We expect these services to improve their efforts to identify and prevent serious threats such as child sexual exploitation, sexual blackmail, and the distribution of materials and content that promote, incite, or teach violence,” Inman Grant said.
In recent years, Australia has often been in the spotlight for its stance on the safety of minors on the Internet, including introducing an unprecedented ban on the use of social media for those under 16 last December. And in early September, it became known that the Australian authorities had launched the My Feed, My Way initiative, according to which social networks will be required to provide users with the opportunity to independently choose the content displayed in their feed.
In some countries, online gaming platforms have also come under criticism for not doing enough to ensure the safety of children. Gaps in the safety of minors significantly increase the risk of child labor and the use of such platforms by pedophiles who meet child players.
Russian authorities have also taken action against online gaming platforms that are popular with children and teenagers. So, in December last year, Roskomnadzor blocked Roblox. The Russian department found there calls for violence, justification of terrorism and LGBT content. In June of this year, it became known that the blocking had been lifted and Roblox began operating in Russia again. As the Ministry of Digital Development explained, the popular gaming platform provided the Russian authorities with guarantees that it would take additional measures to protect children.
