Discord rolls out global age verification requiring face scan or ID to access adult content

Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month

Discord announced on Monday that it's rolling out age verification on its platform globally starting next month, when it will automatically set all users' accounts to a "teen-appropriate" experience unless they demonstrate that they're adults. Users who aren't verified as adults will not be able to access age-restricted servers and channels, won't be able to speak in Discord's livestream-like "stage" channels, and will see content filters for any content Discord detects as graphic or sensitive. They will also get warning prompts for friend requests from potentially unfamiliar users, and DMs from unfamiliar users will be automatically filtered into a separate inbox. Direct messages and servers that are not age-restricted will continue to function normally, but users won't be able to send messages or view content in an age-restricted server until they complete the age check process, even if it's a server they were part of before age verification rolled out. Savannah Badalich, Discord's global head of product policy, said in an interview with The Verge that those servers will be "obfuscated" with a black screen until the user verifies they're an adult. Users also won't be able to join any new age-restricted servers without verifying their age. Discord's global age verification launch is part of a wave of similar moves at other online platforms, driven by an international legal push for age checks and stronger child safety measures. This is not the first time Discord has implemented some form of age verification, either. It initially rolled out age checks for users in the UK and Australia last year, which some users figured out how to circumvent using Death Stranding's photo mode. Badalich says Discord "immediately fixed it after a week," but expects users will continue finding creative ways to try getting around the age checks, adding that Discord will "try to bug bash as much as we possibly can." It's not just teens trying to cheat the system who might attempt to dodge age checks. Adult users could avoid verifying, as well, due to concerns around data privacy, particularly if they don't want to use an ID to verify their age. In October, one of Discord's former third-party vendors suffered a data breach that exposed users' age verification data, including images of government IDs. A government ID might still be required for age verification in its global roll-out. According to Discord, to remove the new "teen-by-default" changes and limitations, "users can choose to use facial age estimation or submit a form of identification to [Discord's] vendor partners, with more options coming in the future." The first option uses AI to analyze a user's video selfie, which Discord says never leaves the user's device. If the age group estimate (teen or adult) from the selfie is incorrect, users can appeal it or verify with a photo of an identity document instead. That document will be verified by a third party vendor, but Discord says the images of those documents "are deleted quickly -- in most cases, immediately after age confirmation." Badalich also says after the October data breach, Discord "immediately stopped doing any sort of age verification flows with that vendor" and is now using a different third-party vendor. She adds that, "We're not doing biometric scanning [or] facial recognition. We're doing facial estimation. The ID is immediately deleted. We do not keep any information around like your name, the city that you live in, if you used a birth certificate or something else, any of that information." However, some users may not have to go through either form of age verification. Discord is also rolling out an age inference model that analyzes metadata like the types of games a user plays, their activity on Discord, and behavioral signals like signs of working hours or the amount of time they spend on Discord. "If we have a high confidence that they are an adult, they will not have to go through the other age verification flows," Badalich says. She goes on to explain that the addition of age assurance will mainly impact adult content: "A majority of people on Discord are not necessarily looking at explicit or graphic content. When we say that, we're really talking about things that are truly adult content [and] age inappropriate for a teen. So, the way that it will work is a majority of people are not going to see a change in their experience." Even so, there's still a risk that some users will leave Discord as a result of the age verification roll-out. "We do expect that there will be some sort of hit there, and we are incorporating that into what our planning looks like," Badalich says. "We'll find other ways to bring users back."

Discord to start requiring face scan or ID to access adult content

Discord will soon require all users globally to verify their age with a face scan or by uploading a form of ID if they want to access adult content. The online chat service, which allows people to create and join groups based on their interests, says it has more than 200 million monthly users. Its new safety measures are designed to protect people by placing everyone into a teen-appropriate experience "by default". Discord already makes some users in the UK and Australia verify their age to comply with online safety laws - but it will roll out the age checks to all users worldwide from early March. "Nowhere is our safety work more important than when it comes to teen users," said Discord policy head Savannah Badalich. "Rolling out teen-by-default settings globally builds on Discord's existing safety architecture, giving teens strong protections while allowing verified adults flexibility." The platform says the new default settings will restrict what people can see and how they can communicate, with only those who prove they are an adult able to access age-restricted communities and unblur material marked as sensitive. Users will also not be able to see direct messages sent to them from someone they do not know unless they complete Discord's age checks. Users can either upload a photo of their ID to confirm their age or take a video selfie, where AI will be used to estimate their facial age. Discord said information used for age checks will not be stored by the platform or the verification company. It said face scans would not be collected, and ID uploads would be deleted after the verification is complete. Privacy campaigners have previously warned such methods could pose a risk to people's privacy. Discord faced criticism in October after official ID photos of around 70,000 users were potentially leaked after a firm which helped it verify ages was hacked. Its announcement comes after reports in early January said the company was looking to start selling its shares publicly. With its new measures - which include a teen safety council - Discord is also echoing Meta's Facebook and Instagram, TikTok and Roblox. Social platforms have rolled out a slew of measures to protect teens and children on their sites in recent years after facing increased pressure from lawmakers. Discord's boss Jason Citron was grilled about his company's child safety measures at a fiery US Senate hearing in 2024, alongside alongside Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Snap boss Evan Spiegler and TikTok's chief Shou Chew. Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here.

Discord will age-lock your account next month and you'll have to submit an ID or accept a face scan to unlock it - you know, 4 months after suffering a third-party data breach

"We'll find other ways to bring users back," said product policy head, acknowledging the odds of users leaving Discord After softer, region-specific rollouts, Discord has now announced global child protection settings that will default all users to an age-locked "teen-by-default" status pending age verification via ID or selfie age estimation. Teen-by-default settings will hit "all new and existing users worldwide" in March 2026, starting with "a phased global rollout." Discord announced the change today, echoing a rise in age-based online protections purportedly aimed at child safety. Once marked as a teen on Discord, "users may be required to engage in an age-verification process to change certain settings or access sensitive content." This includes filters for "truly adult content," according to product policy head Savannah Badalich (thanks, The Verge), as well as "age-gated spaces" including channels and servers, and chat for live "stage" shows in servers. Direct messages from "people a user may not know" will additionally be "routed to a separate inbox," and friend request alerts will similarly receive a warning prompt. To slough off these age restrictions, you "can choose to use facial age estimation or submit a form of identification to [Discord's] vendor partners, with more options coming in the future." Age estimation runs "video selfies" through an AI that tries to determine how old you are. Discord says these selfies "never leave a user's device." ID verification will be handled by third-party vendors. Again, Discord says, "Identity documents submitted to our vendor partners are deleted quickly - in most cases, immediately after age confirmation." The phrase "in most cases" is putting in work there, as is the word "vendor". You may recall that in October 2025, a now-ex Discord vendor was breached, with Discord admitting that "approximately 70,000 users ... may have had government-ID photos exposed, which our vendor used to review age-related appeals." "This was not a breach of Discord, but rather a breach of a third-party service provider, 5CA, that we used to support our customer service efforts," Discord said at the time. But with the company rolling out ID-collecting verification globally, scrutiny of age-related appeal processing is only going to intensify, and the volume of user data in Discord's pipelines will only grow. When Discord does add "more options" for age verification, we'll apparently see an "age inference model, a new system that runs in the background to help determine whether an account belongs to an adult, without always requiring users to verify their age." Again, this looks to be AI trying its best to see if you're old. It's unclear how, or how reliably, the model will assess users. Should we start posting about lower back pain and taxes, just to be safe? Badalich acknowledged the risk of users leaving Discord over this change - which, based on the reactions I've seen online, is the safest conclusion to draw from this news. "We do expect that there will be some sort of hit there," she said, "and we are incorporating that into what our planning looks like. We'll find other ways to bring users back."