The Australian regulator eSafety has identified serious weaknesses in the protection of minors on popular online gaming platforms , warning that children and teenagers are still exposed to dangerous contacts, sexual exploitation, blackmail, violent extremist content and other forms of harmful activity .
The new report examines how four of the most popular services on the market, Steam, Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft, implement safety mechanisms for younger users. The issue is particularly relevant as, according to data cited by the Australian authority, nine in ten children aged 8 to 17 in Australia have played online games.
Online games have become social spaces
Modern gaming platforms are no longer limited to gameplay. They feature chat, voice communication, private messaging, communities, and features that allow players to make new contacts.
See also: Prince Harry warns that AI chatbots crave children's attachment
This means that the dangers traditionally associated with social media can now also appear within a gaming environment. An adult with malicious intentions can approach a minor, build a relationship of trust and gradually attempt grooming, sexual blackmail or manipulation.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grantstressed that children should be able to play online without being exposed to would-be abusers, sexual exploitation, violent extremist or other harmful content.
Steam is at the center of criticism
One of the most significant findings of the report concerns Valve, the company behind Steam and Steam Chat. According to eSafety, Valve was the only one of the providers examined that did not use a technology that has been adopted more widely in the industry to identify and remove already known harmful content.
The report also states that Valve did not use proactive tools to detect child sexual exploitation material or violent activity in chats. Existing systems were reportedly focused primarily on identifying fraud.
eSafety also found limitations in how Valve and Roblox's language detection systems were trained . According to the report, the two platforms used exclusively internal datasets, without regularly retraining their models.
Age checks remain a critical issue
Another major problem concerns how platforms verify users' ages. The report notes that Minecraft and Fortnite generally rely on self-declaration of age, despite Fortnite having dedicated accounts for children.
Steam used the same model , meaning a user could declare themselves as an adult and gain access to communication features that might pose greater risks.
However, the report acknowledges that there have been recent changes. Steam has started using age verification via credit cards, while Roblox has implemented stricter age since last December.
The issue is particularly complex, as effective age verification must balance the protection of minors and the protection of users' personal data.
See also: EU Children's Law bans social media for children under 13
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Inconsistencies in the cooperation of companies
eSafety identified problems not only in technical measures but also in information sharing between companies.
Mojang Studios, the creator of Minecraft, and Roblox had shared expertise on tackling child sexual exploitation and violent extremism online. In contrast, Valve had not participated in this expertise exchange, according to the report.
At the same time, Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, had not shared incidents of violations on other platforms as part of a global program to address online sexual exploitation and abuse of children.
This picture highlights a broader problem: attacks and grooming practices do not stop at the boundaries of a specific service. Sharing information can help platforms identify recurring patterns of behavior earlier.
Australia tightens protection framework
The findings come from data collected by eSafety between October 2025 and March 2026 and are part of a wider effort by Australia to increase the protection of minors online.
The country has already taken a stricter approach to social networking services, implementing a groundbreaking restriction on social media use by people under the age of 16 since last December. This regulation does not apply to gaming platforms, which makes the way gaming services treat underage users particularly important.
At the same time, Australia has promoted initiatives that involve greater user control over the way social media algorithms operate.
See also: UNICEF: 60% of child sexual abuse online occurs on social networks
Companies are urged to strengthen measures
eSafety is asking platforms to step up their efforts to identify and address serious threats, such as sexual exploitation of minors, sexual blackmail , and content that promotes or incites violence.
Roblox, for its part, claims to have invested significantly in the safety of its Australian community, particularly in protecting younger users, and highlights the mandatory age checks it has implemented.
Valve, Epic Games and Microsoft, which owns Minecraft, were also asked to comment on the findings.
The Australian report ultimately shows that protecting children in gaming cannot be limited to a simple content filter or parental control setting. Age verification, chat supervision, detection of suspicious behavior and collaboration across platforms are now critical layers of defense. As online games evolve into full-fledged digital communities, the safety of minors becomes an issue that concerns not only the game, but the entire ecosystem of online communication.
