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What eSafety found about Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft and Steam.

Last reviewed 7 October 2026

On Friday 2 October 2026, Australia’s online safety regulator, eSafety, reported on Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft, the three games Australian children play most, and on Steam, the big PC game store and its chat. It found significant gaps in how they protect children, and no common baseline of protections between them. These games are also outside the under-16 social media ban that started in December 2025.

eSafety found significant child-safety gaps in Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft and Steam. About 9 in 10 Australian children aged 8 to 17 have played online games. Games aren’t covered by the under-16 social media ban. Source: eSafety Commissioner, Playing it safe report, 2 October 2026.

What eSafety found.

  • About 9 in 10 Australian children aged 8 to 17 have played online games. eSafety says predatory adults often make first contact with children on games.
  • Roblox is by far the biggest, with about 3.1 million Australian users a month, around 1.7 million of them under 18. It is the only one of the four that checks age before chat (a face scan or ID, since December 2025). But its automatic image checker caught only about half of the harmful images, and Roblox said only 4% of Australian under-18 accounts had parental controls switched on.
  • Fortnite and Minecraft had protections for child accounts, but mostly relied on the age a player typed in. In some cases, players who said they were adults could reach higher-risk chat features. On Minecraft that includes servers run by other people, which Mojang doesn’t proactively moderate.
  • Steam Chat had limited protections. Valve was the only one of the four not scanning for known child abuse images, and apart from a link checker that mostly caught scams, it didn’t check Steam Chat for harm. Age was typed in, and only about 4% of Australian Steam accounts had parental controls on. Since September, Steam checks a credit card before R18+ games.
“Australian children have a right to play online without being exposed to predators, sexual extortionists, violent extremist content or other harmful material.”

The report covers October 2025 to March 2026, from information the four companies were legally required to give eSafety. Roblox says the safety of its Australian community is a priority.

Roblox’s deadlines run to November.

In August, eSafety accepted a formal promise from Roblox that can be enforced in court. eSafety’s own testing earlier in 2026 had found that adults could send friend requests to young Australian children without a parent’s consent, and that children’s friend lists and profiles could be seen by anyone.

Roblox committed to fix these within two to three months of August, and to pay for an independent audit over the next three years. Roblox says it already meets its obligations.

Why the under-16 ban doesn’t cover games.

Since 10 December 2025, age-restricted social media platforms, including TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, have had to take reasonable steps to stop Australians under 16 from having an account. The rules made under the law leave out services whose main purpose is playing online games, and messaging apps.

eSafety lists Roblox, Steam (with Steam Chat) and Discord as not age-restricted, and Fortnite and Minecraft aren’t on its list of age-restricted platforms either. So the under-16 law doesn’t stop a child having an account on any of them. eSafety’s own advice to parents is that a platform not being age-restricted doesn’t make it safe.

The government has proposed a Digital Duty of Care that would cover games and protect under-18s. It is still a draft. Our home guide to the under-16 law covers what a household can decide for itself.

Three things parents can do this week.

  1. Switch on each game’s own parental controls, and check the account has your child’s real birthday.
    • Roblox: in your child’s Settings, then Parental Controls, link your own parent account, then set chat, spending and screen time.
    • Fortnite: set a parental-controls PIN on your child’s Epic Games account, then choose who they can voice and text chat with.
    • Minecraft: use Microsoft’s Xbox family settings. Online play is off for child accounts until you allow it.
    • Steam: add your child to Steam Families as a child, then limit Friends Chat.
  2. Know the warning signs, and keep talking. eSafety’s list includes someone trying to become friends very quickly, asking for private information, offering gifts or game items, asking your child to keep secrets, or pushing to move to a more private app. If your child tells you something went wrong, ThinkUKnow advises against taking the device away, so they keep coming to you.
  3. Know where to report. Grooming or sexual blackmail of a child: the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation at accce.gov.au/report. Serious online abuse or illegal content: eSafety at esafety.gov.au/report. A child in immediate danger: Triple Zero (000). Children can call Kids Helpline free, any time, on 1800 55 1800.

eSafety’s gaming advice for parents goes further, game by game.

Where a home network filter fits.

Each game’s settings decide who your child can talk to inside it. WOMBATS Shield, designed and engineered in Australia, sits behind your modem and decides when and where the games work at all. The rules live on the Shield, so at home there’s nothing to install on the console or the tablet.

  • Switch Roblox, Fortnite, Discord, Minecraft, Steam and over 130 other apps off for the whole house. Each can also go off on one child’s device only, all the time or just overnight on school nights.
  • Pause any device or give it bedtime hours, the games console and the TV included. Without the internet, its online games and chat stop too.
  • Follow-Me Filtering puts your rules on the kids’ phones away from home, through a free app.
See how app blocking works →Order a Shield →

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Sources.

Common questions.

Is Roblox covered by the under-16 social media ban?

No. The rules made under the law leave out services whose main purpose is playing online games, and eSafety lists Roblox as not age-restricted. eSafety has said a game could be brought in later if its main purpose changed, for example if chat took over.

Should we take the games away?

That’s a family call. eSafety’s advice is to set games up safely, play together sometimes and keep talking, so children tell you when something feels wrong.

Does the Shield read my child’s chats?

No. It doesn’t read what’s said inside a game or app. It decides whether the game connects at all, on which device and at what hours.