Advertisers will no longer be able to buy ads from Roblox that reach kids under age 13, Kidscreen has confirmed. The popular gaming platform that has more than 50 million active daily users—around half (47%) of whom are 12 or younger—has committed to blocking these kids from seeing new ad campaigns, sponsored experiences or items and user ads.

On Roblox, sponsored experiences refer to paid ads where creators pay for their experiences to be highlighted across Roblox’s pages and search results.

This change came into effect yesterday, although Roblox will continue to deliver ongoing and previously scheduled sponsored experiences aimed at kids until their end dates.

“We’re making these adjustments to the audiences you can reach with our ads to be more consistent with our safety standards and aligned with our mission to connect billions of people with optimism and civility,” says a Roblox spokesperson.

It’s a significant shift for the platform, which is seeing more and more kids brands flock to it with new games and experiences as this audience grows. Roblox expects the move to have a big effect on advertisers who have been using it to reach a broad demo.

“Since users under the age of 13 will no longer be eligible to see ads [Roblox notes these include sponsored experiences, sponsored items and user ads], advertisers that have reached audiences of all ages with their ads in the past may see roughly half as many impressions as they did before,” the company said in a statement.

To cope with this challenge, Roblox encourages advertisers to monitor ad metrics and explore the platform’s brand-new features, which include an option to aim ad campaigns at the 13 to 16 and 17-plus demos for the first time. Roblox is also rolling out a sponsored products section in its marketplace, where advertisers can bid for space—but only kids 13 and up will be able to see this.

Photo courtesy of Oberon Copeland via Unsplash. 

Correction: As of Q2 2022, 47% of users are under 13, Roblox has confirmed. An earlier version of the story noted that more than half were under 13.