Since it was announced a little over a week ago, Discord’s global age verification rollout has been a bit of a mess. First, the chatroom and voice chat company had to clarify that it won’t require all adults to upload an ID or facial scan to prove how old they are, as the initial post left many users with that impression. Second, the announcement came shortly after one if its existing customer service partners was breached, which lead to hackers getting a hold of user information, including government IDs provided for age verification. Third, users discovered that Discord had partnered with Peter Thiel-backed company Persona for an experiment in the UK, which raised flags about surveillance and security, and saw some personal identifying information being uploaded to the cloud when users thought it would be processed on-device. Now, Discord is admitting that it messed up, and is trying to make amends.
In a post on its website, titled “Getting Global Age Assurance Right: What We Got Wrong and What’s Changing,” Discord admitted that its new “teen-by-default” age settings haven’t had the warmest reception. The company said that it “knew this rollout was going to be controversial,” but added that “we failed at our most basic job: clearly explaining what we’re doing and why.” It then reiterated that “over 90% of users will never need to verify their age to continue using Discord exactly as they do today,” while still doubling down on providing “real safeguards” for teenage users. That said, corporate damage control aside, the company also said it’s going to delay the global age verification rollout, and is going to make concrete changes to attempt to address user concerns.
How Discord’s global age verification is changing
To that end, Discord is making the following changes to its controversial global age verification rollout:
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Global age verification will now be delayed from March to the “second half of 2026.” Until that point, age verification will only remain active in areas where it is legally required, like the UK and Australia.
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On launch, Discord will provide a list of every age verification vendor it works with and their practices.
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All age verification partners will only offer facial scanning on-device.
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Before global age verification launches, Discord will develop alternative age verification methods beyond scanning your face or providing an ID, like providing credit card information instead. However, such methods might not be legally allowed in certain area, like Australia, the UK, and Brazil.
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Discord will add spoiler channels as an option for communities, so they don’t need to use age-restricted channels to hide age appropriate, but still sensitive, content anymore. This will allow accounts that aren’t able to age verify to access these channels.
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The company will publish a technical blog once age verification launches going into detail on how its systems work, and will add age verification metrics, including how many users were asked to verify or which age verification methods they used, to ongoing transparency reports.
Essentially, the idea is that if you’re an adult Discord user (and you live in a region that allows it, which Discord says may not be everywhere), Discord will likely be able to use factors like your signup email, your account age, and your activity to guess your age. If so, you’ll be automatically filtered into the correct age group and will be able to keep using the app as usual. Otherwise, you’ll be labeled a teen, and will need to verify by either scanning your face, providing a government ID, or using one of Discord’s new alternative methods. Or, you could keep using the app unverified, but you’ll lose access to age-restricted channels and any content Discord thinks is inappropriate enough to block for you.
Why does Discord care about my age so much?
To that end, not much has changed about Discord’s end goals, and the company did acknowledge that “we know many of you believe the right answer is not to do this at all.” However, Discord also said that its hand is being forced in regions including the UK, Australia, and Brazil, with “Europe and multiple US states close behind.” In scaling age verification globally, Discord says it wants to “show regulators that it’s possible to verify age without collecting identity,” also stating that “we don’t want to know who you are. We just need to know whether you’re an adult.”
What do you think so far?
To be fair, that still seems to involve knowing who users are to some extent, as you’ll still need to hand over some type of personal identifying information to verify, or rely on Discord’s age prediction to collect information to estimate your age in the background. But as a show of good faith, Discord acknowledged its “experiment” with Persona, and that Persona’s use of off-device facial scanning did not meet its bar for privacy.
What happens next is unclear. Discord’s made a lot of promises, but now it has to follow through on them. The company also didn’t provide a strict deadline for its age verification rollout, so its possible it could continue to get pushed back in regions that don’t legally require it. However, Discord is also up for for an IPO sometime this spring. Certainty and a happy consumer base will likely make investors happy, but that probably also means keeping regulators and concerned parents appeased. Continue to expect compromises, especially when Discord has already come under fire for exposing teens to sensitive material and adult conversations before.
