Discord postpones worldwide age verification launch following user backlash

Discord said Tuesday that it is no longer moving forward with its plan to launch age verification worldwide in March and will instead delay the rollout until the second half of 2026.

The shift follows Discord's significant user backlash earlier this month after an announcement that all users would be placed in a "teen-appropriate experience" by default unless they verified they were adults.

In Tuesday's update, Discord clarified that approximately 90% of users will not need to verify their age and can continue using Discord as usual. The company said this is because most users do not interact with age-restricted content and because Discord's internal safety systems can already identify many adult users. Discord said these internal systems rely on signals such as account age, whether the user has a payment method on file, and the types of servers the user participates in.

"Let me be upfront: we knew this rollout was going to be controversial," Discord CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy wrote in a blog post announcing the delay. "Any time you introduce something that touches identity and verification, people are going to have strong feelings. Rightfully so. In hindsight, we should have provided more detail about our intentions and how the process works."

"The way this landed, many of you walked away thinking we're requiring face scans and ID uploads from everyone just to use Discord," he continued. "That's not what's happening, but the fact that so many people believe it tells us we failed at our most basic job: clearly explaining what we're doing and why."

Discord said users who fall into the roughly 10% group that needs to verify their age will have options for how to do so. Earlier, Discord stated that verification could only be completed through either facial age estimation or by uploading an ID to third-party vendors. Now, Discord says it plans to add more verification methods, including the option to verify with a credit card, before expanding verification globally.

"If you choose not to verify, here's exactly what happens: you keep your account, your servers, your friends list, your DMs, and voice chat," Vishnevskiy wrote. "The only thing that changes is that you won't be able to access age-restricted content or change certain default safety settings designed to protect teens. Nothing else about your Discord experience changes."

Discord also said it plans to publish clear information on its website about every verification vendor it works with, including each vendor's data practices, and to clearly indicate which vendor is used during verification. The company added that it intends to work only with vendors that complete the age-verification process fully on the user's device.

The vendor focus comes as Discord previously faced criticism for listing Persona — a company backed by an investment firm co-founded by Peter Thiel — as one of its verification partners. Thiel is the chairman and co-founder of Palantir, which has drawn controversy for its work with U.S. immigration enforcement and other federal surveillance programs. Persona also drew user criticism for its use of third-party data and partnerships with governments.

Discord is now seeking to distance itself from Persona and told The Verge on Monday that it "ran a limited test of Persona in the UK where age assurance had previously launched, and that test has since concluded."

Discord has also faced backlash after disclosing last October that about 70,000 users may have had sensitive data, including government ID photos, exposed after hackers breached a third-party vendor used for age-related appeals. Discord said it no longer works with the vendor involved in that breach.