On October 2, 2026, Australia's eSafety Commissioner published a report titled "Playing it safe," which points to serious gaps in how Minecraft, Fortnite, Roblox and Steam protect young players from sexual predators and extremist content. According to the document, Minecraft still relies mainly on users declaring their own age, which in practice gives adults access to high-risk communication features, including unsupervised third-party Minecraft servers.

What the eSafety Commissioner looked at

The report is based on mandatory transparency notices that eSafety sent to providers in April 2026, using powers granted by Australia's Online Safety Act. Companies had to explain how they protect users from serious harms between October 2025 and March 2026. Four platforms were put under the microscope: Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite and Steam, and the scale of the issue is significant: data cited in the report shows that 9 in 10 Australian children aged 8 to 17 play online games.

Commissioner Julie Inman Grant didn't mince words when commenting on the findings: "Australian children have the right to play online without being exposed to predators, child sexual exploitation, extremist content or other harmful material." She also added that people seeking contact with minors deliberately choose places where children gather: "If you're a predator, whether a violent extremist or someone grooming children for sexual purposes, you'll go where the digital playgrounds full of children are."

Minecraft and the age verification problem

The most concrete accusation against Mojang Studios concerns how players' ages are determined. According to the report, Minecraft and Fortnite largely let users declare their own age, which means anyone who says they're an adult automatically unlocks higher-risk communication features, including access to unsupervised third-party servers, where chat moderation depends solely on that server's admin, not on Mojang or Microsoft.

This matters for Polish players, because a large part of the community, especially younger players, uses exactly these independent servers, often logging in through an account tied to Bedrock Edition and an Xbox Live account. Age verification at the Microsoft account level doesn't automatically translate into real control over who a child is actually talking to on a given server if someone lied when creating the account.

Steam fares worst, Roblox is catching up

The report doesn't put all four companies in the same bracket. Steam came out worst: according to eSafety, Valve is the only provider that doesn't use widely adopted industry technology to detect and remove known child sexual exploitation material, and it also doesn't proactively scan chats for violent or extremist content.

Roblox, meanwhile, despite earlier criticism, managed to roll out fixes before the report was published: since December it has strengthened age verification, set children's accounts to private by default, and limited unknown adults from contacting unfamiliar minors without parental consent. Against that backdrop, Minecraft lands in the middle of the table: worse than Roblox after its changes, but better than Steam, which didn't take part in industry threat-information-sharing initiatives at all.

Mojang's response

The report states that Mojang Studios bases its detection of risky third-party servers on proactive scanning and user reports, and the company says it takes part in cross-industry initiatives for sharing information on combating child sexual exploitation and extremist content. Microsoft, Mojang's owner, was asked to comment on the report, but in the available materials there is still no substantial official response from the company to the specific allegations about age verification.

The eSafety report isn't an isolated case of regulatory pressure on Minecraft. At the end of September, the European Union's Consumer Protection Cooperation network took up the sale of virtual currencies in nine games, including Minecoins in Minecraft, demanding clear rules on pricing and withdrawal rights. At the same time, on October 21 a California court in Los Angeles is set to consider motions to dismiss lawsuits accusing Microsoft, Roblox and Epic Games of designing mechanics that deliberately foster addiction in children. In Poland, meanwhile, the consumer protection office UOKiK earlier this year brought charges against YouTubers over aggressive marketing woven into Minecraft streams aimed at the youngest viewers. It's a sign that pressure on publishers of games popular with kids is growing on many fronts at once, not just in Australia.

Commissioner Inman Grant announced that eSafety will now monitor whether the platforms actually implement the recommended changes, and she didn't rule out further enforcement steps against companies that fail to raise their standards. For parents looking for practical tips on reducing risk right now, our guides on in-game safety may help, covering how to set up child accounts and limit chat on servers.

Sources