Thailand to link online game platform to digital ID system for age assurance

Thailand's Ministry of Digital Economy and Society is engaged in discussions with gaming platform Roblox, one potential area of focus is the implementation of Thailand’s National Digital ID system to verify the identities and ages of users.

Roblox, [1] the social gaming platform, has faced ongoing criticism [2] regarding its online safety measures particularly in relation to child sexual exploitation, resulting in multiple lawsuits. Regulators around the world have engaged with Roblox, with [3] Thailand’s Ministry of Digital Economy and Society being one of the most recent to address the issue.

According to [4] a report by Khaosod English, discussions between the ministry and Roblox have focused on enhancing safety and child protection measures. This includes the potential implementation of Thailand’s National Digital ID system to verify the identities and ages of users.

The conversation has also covered topics such as age restrictions and filtering, biometric facial age estimation technology, chat moderation systems aimed at detecting inappropriate messages, and Roblox's strategy to adopt measures aligned with [5] the International Age Rating Coalition or IARC rating system by 2027.

Thailand is among several Asian countries exploring age assurance legislation for social media platforms and related services. In June 1, 2026 Malaysia established [6] a ban under the Online Safety Act 2025, effective which prohibits users under the age of 16 from creating or maintaining accounts on major platforms. This regulation affects over 8 million users and requires formal identity verification through documents such as MyKad or passports.

Indonesia enacted Regulation No. 9 of 2026, which [7] prohibits minors under the age of 16 from accessing core social networking services. This regulation shifts the responsibility of enforcing age restrictions and protective features directly onto the platforms. Meutya Hafid, [8] who is the Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs of Indonesia said, “The basis is clear. Our children face increasingly real threats. From exposure to pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud, and most importantly addiction. The government is here so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giant of algorithms. We realize that the implementation of this regulation may cause some discomfort at first. Children may complain and parents may be confused about how to respond to their children’s complaints.”

Japan has suggested [9] implementing stricter age-verification and content-filtering requirements as part of recommendations from a government communications panel, while avoiding a complete ban on users. Singapore [10] is evaluating platform compliance with the Code of Practice for Online Safety, focusing on mandatory age assurance requirements for major services such as Facebook and TikTok.

Chaichanok Chidchob, [11] who is the Digital Economy and Society Minister has emphasized the urgent need for online safety, stating that his initiatives aim to foster long-term trust among users, families, and Thai society. Chaichanok has proposed the idea of verifying users [12] who wish to access Roblox by integrating Thailand’s National Digital ID/KYC system with Roblox user accounts. He intends to establish a joint working group to examine the proposed verification system. Government-linked systems present a trade-off; while they can deliver accurate age verification, they also raise concerns regarding tracking and privacy.

Roblox is utilizing Persona's facial age estimation technology while simultaneously working on a new modular, multimodal behavioural machine learning system. This development is part of the company's efforts to address reputational and financial challenges by ensuring that age verification measures remain current. Roblox said [13] in a statement on their website. “The technology we use for facial age checks was selected because it’s been tested and certified by third-party labs and has proven to be more accurate than self-declared age,” “This initial age check is necessary, but age assurance doesn’t end at the selfie. To move age assurance beyond a point-in-time signal, we built a high-throughput ML layer that evaluates whether an account’s ongoing behaviour still matches its estimated age over time. Our feature-level modular design enables efficient model updates and rapid adaptation to shifting behavioural patterns.”

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