Discord's Controversial Age Verification Policy Starts Today

In February, Discord announced "teen-by-default" settings and a controversial age-verification policy to change those settings. Backlash was swift, and users immediately tried to find alternative chat services. Eventually, Discord announced it would delay the implementation of its controversial policies to the second half of 2026. Well, here we sit with just a few months left in the year, and the day has come: Discord has begun rolling out its "global age assurance" plans.

In a new blog post titled "Safer for Teens, Same Discord for Adults," Discord CTO and co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy outlined how the policies work, stressing multiple times that 90% of users won't be asked to confirm their ages. Discord is automatically placing users into various age groups "using account signals, like how long your account has existed and the kinds of servers you're part of. We use multiple account signals to determine age groups at an accuracy level matching what’s possible with biometrics. No single server determines your age group, and we don't look at your messages, calls, or other content to decide which age group you’re in."

You can check your group by looking at the "Account Status" page in your user settings. As Vishnevskiy notes, the new settings will be launched throughout this week, so you may not see anything new in your settings right away.

What each age group means

Graphic: Polygon; Source images: Theorycraft Games; Discord

Depending on what age group Discord has sorted you into, the way you interact with the app might change. Nothing will change for adults, while teens will have some content restricted. Users in the "unconfirmed" group will also face restrictions on adult content until they confirm their age.

The age settings are meant to protect teen users, according to Discord. Here's how using Discord will be different for those in the teen age group:

Who can reach you: Messages from non-friends go to your message requests inbox so you can review them first. Turning this off requires confirming you're an adult. You'll also get an alert before accepting a friend request from someone you don't share mutual friends or a small server with. This won’t impact people you already talk to. It only changes how messages and requests from people you don't know are handled.

What you can and can’t see: Sensitive images identified by our sensitive content filters are blurred or blocked depending on where they appear. Age-restricted servers, channels, and age-restricted bot commands aren't accessible. Changing any of this requires confirming you're an adult.

What others can see about you: Your full profile details and activity, like what game you're playing, are visible only to friends and people in smaller servers you're part of. You can adjust this at any time.

Users in the unconfirmed group will have the same restrictions "except your full profile details and activity are visible to friends and people in all servers you’re part of."

Discord's age verification methods

Image: Discord

In February, Discord promised more age verification options beyond a video selfie or sharing an ID for users, and outlined them in Tuesday's blog post, assuring users "the data you provide to us and our vendors is only ever used to determine your age group, so you can pick whichever option you're most comfortable with." New options involve inputting credit card information, letting the Apple App Store and Google Play Store share your age group (not exact birthdate) with Discord, using Google Wallet to confirm your age via an ID pass, or setting up an AgeKey that can be used across various platforms.

Users were understandably wary of sharing any sort of sensitive data with Discord or any third-party company to verify their age back in February and seem to remain skeptical today. (Trust in the company remains rocky after Discord was already connected to one security breach of user data last fall.)

"Surely any selfie or ID photo people upload will be securely stored and not hacked, oh wait…" reads a top comment on Reddit. "The day any program askes [sic] me for some kind of id verification is the day I stop using that program," another user says. "Dystopian bullshit designed to siphon and sell our data," one user blunty describes the situation.

Photo: Davide Bonaldo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

An FAQ at the end of the blog addresses some user concerns, including the privacy and protection of their data. Discord has a new age assurance vendor, k-ID, and is essentially passing the responsibility off to it and other third-party vendors. "No matter which vendor you use to confirm your age, we won’t receive your name, your credit card, your ID, or a scan of your face. Instead, the information is processed by vendors like k-ID, who then pass us a signal containing your age group. The vendors are then required to delete your uploaded data immediately after confirming your age group," Discord says. "If you choose to use facial age estimation, know that we’ve set a hard requirement for vendors: any partner offering facial age estimation must run it entirely on your device, so your biometric data never leaves your phone."

Time will tell if the controversial changes affect Discord's bottom line or if they result in a mass exodus of users. As mentioned, you'll start seeing your age group placement in your user settings in the coming days.