Discord will try to automatically estimate ages, require verification when it can’t.
Discord today is rolling out an age-verification system that estimates each user’s age and requires some users to prove they are old enough to access age-restricted content. Discord said it will take a few days for the global system to reach all user accounts.
Discord had announced a somewhat different plan for age checks in February, but scrapped it amid backlash from users concerned about privacy. The privacy concerns were heightened by a 2025 incident in which hackers stole government IDs of 70,000 Discord users from a third-party service that Discord used to verify ages in the UK and Australia.
The original plan was to require ID uploads or face scans from users seeking to access age-restricted servers and channels. The revised system, detailed yesterday by Discord CTO and co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy, will provide several additional options.Read full article
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Source: Ars Technica
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- Wire dispatch directly ingested from Ars Technica - All content.
- Published at Wed, 23 Sep 2026 20:05.
- Source URL: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/discord-age-verification-rolls-out-today-with-changes-spurred-by-user-backlash/