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Australia’s online safety regulator has identified significant gaps in how popular gaming platforms like Steam, Roblox, Fortnite, and Minecraft protect children from online threats such as predators, sexual exploitation, and violent content. The report, covering the period October 2025 to March 2026, highlights that Valve, which owns Steam, does not use widely adopted technology to detect harmful content proactively. Similarly, Roblox was noted for using only internal datasets to train its language detection systems and failing to regularly retrain these models. The eSafety Commissioner emphasized the need for platforms to improve their efforts in identifying and combating serious online harms affecting children.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-02,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
In a recent report, Australia's eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant criticized popular gaming platforms Steam, Steam Chat, and Fortnite for significant child safety gaps. The report, compiled using data from October 2025 to March 2026, highlighted that these platforms lack effective methods to detect harmful content, leaving children vulnerable to exploitation, abuse, and exposure to violent extremism. Specifically, the Valve Corporation, which runs Steam and Steam Chat, was singled out for not proactively using industry-standard tools to identify child sexual exploitation or violent material in chats. Professor Michael Salter from UNSW emphasized that companies should take responsibility rather than relying on parents to ensure children's safety online.
Written for “Child Safety In Online Gaming” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 3 other(s) covering the same event.
- Published
Australia's online safety regulator has found "significant gaps" in how popular gaming platforms protect children online.
asserted
platforms → publish → children
In a new report it found inconsistent approaches in how Steam, Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft implement child safety measures as research shows nine out of 10 children aged 8 to 17 in Australia have played online games.
asserted
children → find → games
"Australian children have a right to play online without being exposed to predators, sexual extortionists, violent extremist content or other harmful material," eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said.
asserted
Grant → have → predators
Weak safety on platforms allow "predatory adults" to make contact with children before grooming them, she said, for sexual exploitation or radicalisation.
asserted
she → allow → exploitation
The report found that Valve - the US gaming giant that owns Steam and Steam Chat - was the only provider that did not use a type of technology widely used by the industry to detect and remove known harmful content.
asserted
that → find → content
Valve also did not "proactively" use tools to detect child sexual exploitation or violent material in chats, with current systems mainly flagging scams, the report found.
asserted
report → use → scams
Roblox, along with Valve, were noted in the report as using only internal datasets to train language detection systems and for not regularly retraining these models.
"We expect these services to lift their game to identify and combat serious harms such as child sexual exploitation, sexual extortion and material and activity which promotes, incites or instructs violence," Inman-Grant said.
asserted
Grant → note → violence
Minecraft and Fortnite, which does offer child accounts, generally let users self-declare their age, the report highlighted, meaning anyone who said they were adults could access "higher-risk communication features".
uncertain
they → offer → features
Steam also relied on users self-declaring their age but the report acknowledged the platform had recently introduced age checks using credit cards, and that Roblox had put in stronger age checks since last December.
asserted
Roblox → rely → December
Another issue raised by the report was the inconsistent manner in which the four gaming platforms shared information and participated in industry initiatives.
asserted
platforms → raise → initiatives
Mojang Studios, developer of Minecraft, and Roblox shared industry expertise in combating child sexual exploitation as well as violent extremism online, but Valve did not.
asserted
Valve → share → exploitation
Elsewhere, Fortnite maker Epic Games failed to share instances of breaches with other platforms under a global programme that was designed to combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
asserted
that → fail → exploitation
The report was based on information collected by Australia's eSafety Commission on how the platforms were protecting users from serious online harm between October 2025 and March 2026.
asserted
platforms → base → October
Australia has made global headlines in recent years for its stance on online safety, after it introduced its world-leading social media ban for under-16s last December - which did not include gaming platforms - and a more recent push to force tech giants to offer users a chance to opt-out of social media algorithms.
asserted
which → make → algorithms
Valve, Fortnite, Roblox and Microsoft - which owns Minecraft - have been contacted for comment.
asserted
which → own → comment
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