...
By James Rushton
Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
The popular online messaging platform Discord is facing backlash after announcing that it will make a key policy change in the name of security next month.
Starting in early March, the platform will place every account into a default "teen-appropriate" experience unless it has proof that users are adults.
The move has brought widespread criticism from Discord users, who are citing privacy and security concerns following a recent breach of a third-party vendor that ended up exposing around 70,000 government ID images used to verify the age of Discord users.
Read More on Tech
Discord, which allows people to create and join groups based on their interests, currently has more than 200 million monthly users, which makes this one of the largest rollouts of age assurance in mainstream social apps.
...
How Will Discord's Age Verification Work?
The platform said that it will implement an "age inference model," which is a new system that can aid in determining whether a Discord account belongs to an adult or not with requiring verification. This method uses account tenure, device and activity data, and aggregate patterns—not private messages—to classify users, while those not verified as adults will see blurred sensitive media and lose access to age-restricted communities and "stage" channels.
Discord has said that where necessary users will be able to verify age through an on-device facial age estimation selfie or by submitting a government ID to vendor partners.
Some users may be asked for multiple methods of verification.
Discord users in the U.K. and Australia will know this verification experience well because of age assurance checks being enforced by national government policies to protect younger users of the internet from explicit material. Over the past year, users in those countries will have embarked on a similar process of age assurance to verify their accounts.
The plan arrives amid mounting regulatory pressure to implement stronger child-safety protections—moves that privacy advocates warn can still expose users to data risks if verification systems or vendors are compromised.
What Are The Concerns About Discord Age Verification?
Despite Discord noting that identity documents used for verification will be deleted, and that a user's age verification cannot be seen by other users, there are plenty of privacy concerns from Discord's userbase online.
The chief source of concern is a 2025 data incident that potentially exposed government-ID images for approximately 70,000 users. Hackers successfully targeted Discord's third-party customer support services, 5CA with a view to extort the company.
Discord has since said that it has stopped working with 5CA, but that hasn't eased the worries of Discord's global userbase.
What Are Discord Users Saying?
On Reddit, contributors gathered in a thread to largely condemn the forthcoming changes.
One Reddit user wrote "What a great way to kill your community," reflecting a common theme in a thread that largely criticized the rollout and urged others to avoid uploading IDs or face scans.
Another Redditor said, "I will not be uploading my face or ID to a database that I know is not secure enough to handle this," echoing fears fueled by the prior vendor breach.
Some commenters said they were considering cancelling their Discord subscriptions, including the premium "Nitro" service offered by the platform.
"L move from Discord," wrote one Reddit user angry about the changes. "Everything they do keeps pushing me harder and harder to stop using the app. Real shame since they lifted us out of the dark ages of instant messengers all those years ago. Edit: Cancelled my Nitro Classic as well. Been using Discord since 2015 and started giving them money as soon as Nitro became available because Discord was genuinely great but I don't want to support this company anymore."
Those sentiments were echoed by another user who said "cancelling my nitro and will be evaluating other platforms."
Discord's New Default Safety Settings
- Content Filters: Discord users will need to be age-assured as adults to access and unblur sensitive content or turn off the content filter setting.
- Age-gated Spaces: Age-restricted channels, serves and app commands will be inaccessible by users who are not age-assured according to Discord.
- Message Request Inbox: Direct messages from people unknown to a user are routed to a separate inbox by default. This setting cannot be modified unless a user is an age-assured adult.
- Friend Request Alerts: Users will receive warnings on friend requests from users they may not know.
- Stage Restrictions: Only age-assured adults may speak on stage in servers.
What Discord Has Said
Discord has stated that for most, "age verification won’t be required" because of the "Age Inference Model" referenced above, and that Discord would rely on that to use account tenure, device type and activity data to assume an age without verification.
Savannah Badalich, Discord’s global head of product policy, told The Verge "We’re not doing biometric scanning [or] facial recognition. We’re doing facial estimation. The ID is immediately deleted," and acknowledged Discord expects "some sort of hit" to user numbers but said, "We’ll find other ways to bring users back."
Discord has also stated that the platform and age assurance partners will not and do not store personal identity or video verification selfies permanently.
What Happens Next
Starting next month, if Discord users want to stay on the platform and access sensitive content, or access all settings, they will need to verify their age—whether it be via selfie estimation or an ID upload. Unless, that is, Discord's own model successfully predicts the age of a user.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines