Discord to roll out age verification next month for full access to its platform

Discord will begin rolling out age verification worldwide starting next month, the company announced on Monday. By default, all users will be placed into a “teen-appropriate experience” unless they verify that they are adults. Age verification will be required to adjust certain settings and access age-restricted content.

Users must be verified as adults to unblur sensitive content or turn off the setting altogether, and only verified adults may access age-restricted channels, servers, and app commands. In addition, messages from people a user may not know will be sent to a separate inbox by default, and only adults can change this configuration.

Users will also receive warning prompts when they receive friend requests from people they may not know, and only adults will be allowed to speak onstage within servers.

To verify their age, users will need to either complete a facial age estimation process or submit a government-issued ID to Discord’s vendor partners. The company said it plans to introduce additional verification options in the future. Discord also noted that some users may be asked to provide multiple methods if additional information is required to determine the correct age group.

The facial age estimation process requires users to submit video selfies, which Discord says are processed locally and never leave the user’s device. The company added that IDs submitted to its vendor partners are deleted quickly, and in most cases immediately after age confirmation is completed.

It is worth noting that Discord disclosed last October that approximately 70,000 users may have had sensitive information, including government ID images, exposed after hackers breached a third-party vendor used for age-related appeals. That incident underscored concerns raised by digital rights advocates about using age verification to make the internet “safer.”

Discord’s global rollout of age verification follows the company’s move last year to introduce age checks for users in the U.K. and Australia.

“Rolling out teen-by-default settings globally builds on Discord’s existing safety architecture, giving teens strong protections while allowing verified adults flexibility,” Savannah Badalich, Discord’s head of product policy, said in a press release. “We design our products with teen safety principles at the core and will continue working with safety experts, policymakers, and Discord users to support meaningful, long-term wellbeing for teens on the platform.”

The announcement aligns with similar actions taken by other online platforms amid growing international efforts to improve child safety online. Most recently, Roblox introduced mandatory facial verification for access to chat features. Last July, YouTube launched age-estimation technology in the U.S. to identify teen users and deliver a more age-appropriate experience.

Discord said its age-verification changes will begin in early March, and both new and existing users will be required to verify their age to access age-restricted content.