Discord has postponed its controversial global age verification policy, which included face scanning or ID uploads, following widespread user backlash and privacy concerns, particularly after a past data breach involving a third-party vendor. The company plans to refine the policy, offer more verification options, and enhance vendor security standards before a broader rollout, while assuring most users won't be impacted.
Discord, the popular platform for gamers, is postponing its controversial global age verification policy after receiving swift backlash from users concerned about their privacy. The initial policy, announced earlier this month, would have rolled out in March and required face scanning or ID uploads for users whose age could not be automatically determined. This drew significant ire from users, many of whom pointed to a recent security breach involving a third-party provider Discord previously worked with, which exposed government ID photos of up to 70,000 Discord users. While Discord, with over 200 million active users, will continue to meet specific legal obligations for age verification, the global expansion of the policy will only proceed after the company makes changes to the initial plan. Discord's representative acknowledged the security breach added to user skepticism but emphasized that the company no longer works with that specific vendor and maintains rigorous security and privacy standards for all its partners. They stated that information submitted for age verification is stored only for the minimum necessary time, often deleted immediately. The company also distanced itself from Persona, an identity verification service with ties to Peter Thiel, after a limited test in the UK in January. Discord claimed Persona could not meet its standard for on-device facial age estimation, meaning biometric data would not leave the user's phone. Persona's CEO, Rick Song, disputed Discord's claims, asserting their company does offer on-device age verification and criticized Discord for making "untrue things about our age assurance technologies to try to shift responsibility away from their own decisions." Despite the backlash, Discord stated that for "90%+ of users, nothing changes." The company proactively determines the ages of most users by analyzing account-level signals such as account age, payment methods on file, types of servers joined, and general activity patterns, without reading messages or analyzing conversations. For the minority of users whose ages cannot be determined, Discord is now working to offer more options beyond face scanning and ID requests, including credit card verification, before rolling out the new system. Users who choose not to verify their age will retain their account, servers, friends list, direct messages, and voice chat, but will not be able to access age-restricted content or change certain default safety settings designed to protect teens. Discord has promised to publish a detailed post explaining its automatic age determination systems and will document every verification vendor and their practices on its website.
