- Discord says it is rolling out age verification checks globally from March
- The choice has sparked outrage from many disenchanted Discord users
- A 3rd-party vendor utilized by Discord was hacked in October 2025
Discord has introduced that it is rolling out age verification checks globally from March, and the choice has sparked a wave of on-line anger not seen since Disney+ suspended Jimmy Kimmel.
The messaging app casually introduced that “teen-by-default settings” will roll out “globally for all Discord users” in early March. Which means each new and current users might want to full a facial age estimation test – utilizing a video selfie – or submit an ID to Discord’s companions so as to use many components of the platform.
These embody accessing age-restricted channels, servers, or instructions, and unblurring delicate content material or turning off that setting. For those who do not full Discord’s age verification, you additionally will not have the ability to entry a separate message inbox for DMs from individuals it’s possible you’ll not know, or communicate on stage in servers.
The controversy facilities on the safety of these age checks, notably given that Discord lately needed to admit in October 2025 that “an unauthorized celebration compromised one of our third-party distributors”.
Discord’s assurances about its age checks have not precisely instilled a lot confidence in lots of users. For those who get your age estimated by video selfie, Discord guarantees it’ll by no means depart your system. Nonetheless, it additionally provides that “some users could also be requested to make use of a number of strategies if extra data is required to assign an age group,” and in case your age group estimate is inaccurate, you will have to enchantment it or confirm it with an ID as a substitute.
On that entrance, Discord says that “identification paperwork submitted to our vendor companions are deleted rapidly – generally, instantly after age affirmation”. And the corporate says that it’s now not working with the third-party vendor that was hit by that leak final yr.
But none of this has notably calmed the issues of many Discord users, who say they’re already looking for alternate options…
Discord lives as much as its title
There’s been a rising suspicion that age verification would possibly come to Discord, ever for the reason that service rolled out age checks within the UK and Australia final yr. Again then, some users discovered crafty methods to bypass the obstacles imposed by the UK’s On-line Security Act, like utilizing Dying Stranding‘s photograph mode.
Sadly, that loophole was closed inside a week, however it’s more likely to be a style of issues to come back from March, given the widespread rage that greeted the information. In numerous threads on Reddit, the response has been near-universal condemnation, with some even predicting the dying of the messaging app.
“I categorically cannot trust tech companies with that kind of personal information,” wrote one annoyed person, with many hoping they would possibly have the ability to persuade Discord to do a U-turn with sufficient public stress. Others went additional. “What a nice solution to kill your group,” added one other longtime person, whereas some predicted “that’s sport over for Discord” and remarked ruefully that “privateness on the web is really useless”.
The latter will get to the center of what many really feel is improper with these necessary age verification checks. Whereas governments say it is a necessary software to maintain teenagers protected on the web, many really feel it oversteps the mark and does extra hurt than good, resulting in compromised privateness and elevated intrusion.
What’s galling for a lot of Discord users is that they’ve used the service for years, some because it launched over a decade in the past in Could 2015, and now really feel their reward is being uncovered to what appears like surveillance and privateness points.
“My account has been round for 8 years, am I severely gonna have to scan my face to show I am an grownup?” mentioned one common Reddit response. One other added, “I’m an grownup and I’m drained of being handled like a baby on the web”, concluding that “I can’t be importing my face or ID to a database that I do know will not be safe sufficient to deal with this”.
What are the alternate options?
So what subsequent? It is not but clear how Discord’s age verification checks affected its person numbers within the UK and Australia final yr, and it is attainable the influence will not be wherever close to as dramatic as the numerous “RIP Discord” posts are predicting.
Nonetheless, some users are clearly severe about leaving the favored messaging service. For a lot of, Discord has changed boards and turn out to be the default house of hobbyist communities. Some alternate options talked about by leavers embody TeamSpeak, Stoat (previously Revolt), and Matrix, however they do not have wherever close to the dimensions or recognition of Discord.
In the meantime, the likes of Sign and Slack both lack its group options or are extra work-oriented. Fairly merely, there is not actually a direct Discord different proper now, however it’s attainable some rivals will seize the chance in the identical method that Bluesky and Threads capitalized on misgivings about Twitter when it morphed into Elon Musk’s X.
What’s far much less possible is a U-turn from Discord on age verification, regardless of the hopes of many. The choice follows a pattern that began final yr after the UK’s On-line Security Act, which noticed any websites internet hosting probably ‘dangerous’ content material being pressured to confirm that users are over the 18. Lawmakers within the US and Europe have now adopted go well with, which suggests in the present day’s Discord furore will possible be the primary of many related incidents in 2026.
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