The UK government reaffirmed on November 2, 2026, that it intends to restrict in-game communication with strangers for under-16s while keeping stranger matchmaking.
The government's child-protection plans, announced in June, proposed a different approach for 16- and 17-year-olds: stranger communication would be switched off by default, but users could turn it on manually.
Why Roblox came up
Murray named Roblox while discussing stranger communication, describing it as “the biggest problem with Roblox.” He cited the risk of young users meeting people in games before being moved to other platforms, where grooming and exploitation can follow.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary described a case involving a man who contacted a user, then aged 14, through Roblox in 2024 before moving the conversation to another messaging app. He pleaded guilty to offences including sexual communication with a child and received a 28-month prison sentence in April 2026.
How existing account controls compare
Epic Games already separates gameplay from communication through its Cabined Accounts system. Children can play titles such as Fortnite before parental consent is obtained, while the account blocks:
- Voice chat with other users.
- Free-form text chat with other users.
Cabined Accounts apply to players under 13 or below their country's age of digital consent. Epic's settings allow chat to be unlocked with parental consent, and the communication restrictions are not limited to strangers.
Those are specific differences from the UK proposal: Epic uses a different age threshold, provides a parental-consent route, and restricts communication beyond contact with unfamiliar players. Its existing system should not be read as the implementation of the government's planned rules.
Fortnite communication controls
Gaming restrictions have no confirmed start date
The government has not announced which games the feature-specific regulations would cover, which chat methods would be blocked, or when enforcement would begin.
Gaming advocacy group Gamer's Voice argues that the proposal would require all gamers to prove their age before accessing communication features. That is the group's assessment of the plan, not an announced age-check requirement.
Gamer's Voice spokesperson Tom Shannon defended gaming's social role: “Gaming isn’t simply another form of social media. When young people join a gaming guild, work together in a team or make friends through a shared hobby, they are participating in a social activity that can be enormously positive.”
The government intends to address stranger communication in games and other services through follow-up feature-specific regulations.
