No, parents do not need to worry about 'biometric location tracking' on Roblox — it's not real.
An unconfirmed post circulating on Facebook and Instagram has many parents worried about their children playing on Roblox. Roblox, a platform that allows players to participate in user-generated games, is enormously popular among the Gen Z demographic (which Roblox currently defines as being age 14 to 26), with an estimated 43.2 million daily active users. More than half of those daily users are younger than 16.
The re-shared post features a screenshot of an unidentified player profile with the username blurred out and a caption warning parents of “biometric location tracking.” It’s not clear who wrote or shared the original post.
“FYI ... If your child plays Roblox, please know that there is a biometric location tracking under the privacy settings that allows ‘friends’ to see where you live,” the caption reads. “Tonight, this creep told my 11 year old son he wanted to ‘meet up some time and play,’ he even recited our full address.”
Does Roblox allow players to see other users’ specific locations and addresses?
No, Roblox does not allow users to see other players’ specific locations or home addresses. In fact, “biometric location tracking” combines two entirely different things: biometric data and location tracking.
Roblox does use both biometric data and location tracking, which it acknowledges on its website. The biometric data, such as “face geometry,” is used to help verify players’ ages. Roblox uses a third-party service to analyze the biometric data — meaning the company itself does not have access to it — and it gets deleted within 90 days after collection.
For location tracking, Roblox told Yahoo News it only operates at the “country or region level” — not “precise geolocation data.” According to Roblox’s privacy policy, which is accessible on its site, location tracking exists to help personalize content and advertising and also keeps players logged in if they use the same device and browser to play. Players are also able to opt out of the service by updating settings or uninstalling the mobile app.
Roblox players can't find other players’ addresses through the platform.
It’s not the first time Roblox has been at the center of rumors seemingly intended to scare parents.
In early 2022, TikTok users spread a rumor that there was a Roblox account that would “hack” female Roblox players called “Jenna the Killer.” Later that same year, amid issues with fake verified accounts running rampant on X, formerly known as Twitter, a misspelled tweet from @Roblox_US, an account impersonating the platform that had been verified by X, announced that sex would be a newly added option in the Roblox universe.
Leading up to the new year, rumors swirled that Roblox would be shutting down on Jan. 1 — making it at least the second time in two years that a screenshot of a fake tweet convinced many users that the app was shutting down.
Roblox has dealt with so many rumors and hoaxes that there is a whole page dedicated to them on its website.
“Sometimes people share stories about hoaxes or hacking, like the John and Jane Doe accounts, that Roblox is shutting down, or that someone is going to hack Roblox on a specific date,” the page reads. “These stories are not real.”
For more information on parental safety need-to-knows for Roblox, read this.
