The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has flagged grooming and extremist conversations targeting minors on Roblox, raising the pressure on the platform only days after national agencies formed a technical working group with it — and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has already named Discord as the next platform it will engage.
DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla warned that grooming and violent conversations aimed at minors are more common on Roblox than in other online shooter games, and said the problem is happening worldwide, not only in the Philippines. Authorities reported finding chat groups on the platform that used criminal language and promoted violence among teenagers.
Why the DILG is watching Roblox
Remulla has been the government's most vocal critic of Roblox. He earlier called for a total ban on the platform after the August 18 shooting at Ateneo de Zamboanga University, an incident that pushed online safety for children to the top of the national agenda.
Roblox, for its part, pointed to the protections it already runs: content filters, blocking of personal information in chats, restrictions on sharing images and videos, age-verification systems, AI-powered detection, human monitoring teams, and user reporting tools. The company said it cooperates with law enforcement when harmful behavior is found.
Inside the working group on age verification
The DILG's warning landed just after the government and Roblox agreed to form a technical working group on child safety, reported by Newsbytes.PH. The group brings together the DICT, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), and the Office of the Executive Secretary.
Its first job is to study stronger age verification for the platform's youngest users. Three approaches are on the table:
- Facial age estimation — software that estimates a user's age from their camera
- ID verification — checking a government-issued document before granting access
- PhilSys integration — linking age checks to the Philippine national ID system
Roblox also made a set of operational commitments: it will hand relevant information to authorized Philippine authorities during investigations, give a government agency round-the-clock access to its Kodex Law Enforcement Portal, assign a liaison officer for Philippine authorities, and localize its safety systems so they can catch harmful keywords and phrases aimed specifically at Filipino children. The company currently employs around 300 Filipinos and says it is exploring a bigger local workforce.
"These are concrete commitments. Now, the focus is on implementation," DICT Secretary Henry Aguda said, adding that protecting children online requires everyone working together.
The commitments extend the pledges Roblox made earlier this month, which included PhilSys age checks, an NBI liaison, and a Philippine office by October.
Discord is next in line
The DICT said Discord — the chat app widely used by gaming communities, including many Filipino players — will be the next platform it engages under the same playbook: sit down with the company, agree on safety commitments, and work out enforcement details platform by platform.
That sequencing matters. Whatever age-verification design the Roblox working group settles on, especially if it lands on PhilSys integration, will likely become the template the government brings to Discord and to every platform after it.
What this means for Filipino parents
Roblox is one of the most-played platforms among Filipino children, so the outcome of this working group will be felt in millions of households. Two things are worth watching. First, escalation risk is real: Remulla has already called for an outright ban once, and the grooming allegations give that position new ammunition. Second, the push fits a wider pattern — the Senate is separately weighing a 16-year minimum age for social media under Senate Bill 2424 — so age checks tied to the national ID could arrive across several platforms, not just one.
In the meantime, the practical steps have not changed: enable Roblox's parental controls, restrict chat for younger accounts, and use the in-app reporting tools when a conversation turns inappropriate.
