Why You Probably Won’t Have to Verify Your Age on Discord After All
Discord has officially launched an age verification feature. As TechCrunch reports , the company will no longer take your word for your age, regardless of where you use the app. Only verified adults can use Discord without restrictions; those under 18 can continue to communicate on the platform, but with certain restrictions.
These changes didn’t come out of nowhere. Discord initially planned to roll out age verification en masse back in March , but the company quickly changed its plans after the backlash to its February announcement . This initial announcement sparked controversy online, as it appeared to be asking all users to upload government-issued identification to use the service as intended. While the company’s plans were somewhat more complex, the criticism forced Discord to adjust its approach to age verification. These rules are now officially in effect, but the vast majority of users will likely not even notice any changes.
How age verification works on Discord now
The first phase, currently being implemented, is the assignment of all users to “age groups.” This entire process is automatic and requires no user interaction, including uploading IDs or other authentication tools. Discord will consider a number of identifiers to determine your age group, including your account age and the servers you’re registered on. The company states that it does not analyze messages, calls, or content to make these decisions. Based on this initial analysis, you will be assigned to one of three categories:
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Adult Age Group : Discord has determined that you are 18 years of age or older and can use the platform without restrictions.
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Teen : Discord has determined that you are between 13 and 17 years old. You can continue to use Discord with protection enabled, but adult content and settings will be unavailable.
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Unconfirmed information : Discord is unable to determine your age group, and you are now subject to the same restrictions as teenagers. New accounts are also subject to this restriction until Discord’s AI collects enough data to determine your age group.
Discord insists that the vast majority of users won’t be required to verify their age in any way other than automatically—the company claims that over 90% of users won’t be required to verify their age, which speaks to Discord’s high confidence in its models. If you fall into the last two categories but are actually 18 or older, you can still verify your true age through Discord. Following the backlash to Discord’s initial plans, you have several age verification options, including:
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Credit Cards : Discord uses Stripe to verify your credit card number to ensure it belongs to an adult. Discord claims it never sees your number.
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In app stores : Depending on your platform, you can allow Apple or Google Play to share your age range with Discord to verify your age. Your date of birth is not disclosed.
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Google Wallet : Discord can verify your age using the password set in your Google Wallet, which is based on information from your passport.
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AgeKey : An independent age verification tool that can be used not only with Discord but also with other services.
Discord still allows you to verify your age by either scanning your ID or using “face age estimation” (i.e., uploading a video selfie for artificial intelligence to determine your age). Discord claims to derive your age only from this data: if you choose to scan your ID, the rest of the data contained in it is immediately deleted, and the video selfie never leaves your device.
What are the restrictions for teen accounts on Discord?
If you’re under 18, your account may experience some changes due to the new policy. Discord advises that messages from users who aren’t your friends will now default to your friend request inbox, so you’ll need to review each message manually. Only users with adult accounts can disable this setting. Discord will also notify you before accepting a friend request from someone you don’t know in common.
When using Discord, you won’t be able to see images containing content suitable for minors; these images are determined by the platform’s content filters for such users. You also won’t be able to access age-restricted servers or channels, and you won’t be able to run commands using bots designed for users with such restrictions.
Age verification systems are imperfect.
While this policy is certainly an improvement over the one presented in Discord’s February announcement, it is clearly not perfect. Discord itself acknowledges that its automated system is prone to error, meaning teenagers could be mistaken for adults, or vice versa. Discord may require users over 18 to verify their identity, although this was previously not necessary, which is particularly frustrating for users who value their privacy.
But it’s not just privacy-conscious users who should be concerned. Age verification has been a disaster for several companies that have implemented it. Roblox found itself in hot water after its age verification system proved surprisingly easy to bypass, allowing children to continue using the platform without restrictions. Meanwhile, IDscan.net lost over 150 million driver’s licenses in a data breach this month. Discord doesn’t use IDscan.net and instead relies on Veratad for ID scanning—but its previous third-party partner, 5CA, was also hacked last year, resulting in ID images being exposed publicly.
It’s great that Discord has offered several alternative verification methods, but anyone who chooses to verify their identity with documents will still be required to send their ID to a third party. Discord claims that your data is deleted after verification, but this entire process requires a great deal of trust. It only takes one weak link in the chain to risk exposing sensitive user data, all for the sake of accessing age-restricted features. Yet, it seems this is becoming the new norm: more and more states are passing laws requiring age verification for at least some adult content online, while countries around the world are beginning to impose social media bans or place restrictions on minors. It seems the unrestricted internet access of the past will soon be gone. Hopefully, we won’t compromise privacy and security in the process of protecting young users.