James Cook (james cook): Discord delays age verification plans after user outcry

james cook — Discord is pushing back plans to start verifying the age of all users in March after weeks of user ire, delaying a global rollout that was meant to identify users under 16 and prompting questions about vendor security and privacy.

James Cook: Discord says rollout postponed, timing and scope uncertain

Stanislav Vishnevskiy, Discord’s co-founder and chief technology officer, said a planned global rollout intended to determine which users are under the age of 16 will be delayed. One statement set the delay to the latter half of this year, while another update said the rollout is being pushed to the second half of 2026; the exact timing is unclear in the provided context. The rollout had been due to begin in early March and originally would have defaulted users into a version of Discord created for people under 16 until their age was verified.

Vishnevskiy outlines verification choices, methodology and user limits

Vishnevskiy wrote that Discord "knew this rollout was going to be controversial" and acknowledged, "In hindsight, we should have provided more detail about our intentions and how the process works. " He added, "I get that scepticism. It's earned, not just toward us, but toward the entire tech industry. " He said less than 10% of users are expected to need to verify their age when the process is rolled out, and that over 90% of users will never need to verify. Discord said users who must verify will be given options designed to tell only age and never identity, and the company will publish its age-determination methodology before a global rollout.

New verification options and preserved account access

Discord stressed it would meet any specific legal obligations for age verification and that age verification will be part of the platform in the future. it is developing "more verification options" that would not require facial or government ID scans; one such option in development is credit card verification. Earlier plans described a phased rollout that would have used video selfies or photo and ID scans to determine a person's age group. Vishnevskiy said the platform will not require face scans or ID uploads from everyone, and that if a user chooses not to verify they can keep their account, servers, friends list, messages and voice chat — though they would be unable to access "age-restricted content" or change certain safety settings until verified.

Vendor ties, Persona experiment and security concerns

Discord has cut ties with a short-lived partner, Persona Identities, after independent security researchers reported that the software compared user photos to government watchlist photos and screened images against "14 categories of adverse media from terrorism to espionage. " The partnership lasted less than a month and was said to be no longer in effect in a February 24 statement. The researchers described the software as running 269 additional verification checks including estimated age, phone carrier checks and social security number comparison. Discord added that "only a small number of users' data was part of this test" and that any information submitted to the company is deleted after seven days. An archived support page indicated UK users "may be part of an experiment" in which age verification information was processed through Persona, and researchers said they have been in direct contact with Persona’s CEO, Rick Song, who "has been responsive and engaged in good faith. "

Breach history, user backlash and community distrust

Criticism of the plan was immediate, with many users pointing to an October security breach of a third-party provider that exposed government ID photos for thousands of users. The company has acknowledged that approximately 70, 000 users may have had government-ID photos exposed after that vendor was hacked. The original age-verification plan, which would have required a facial, photo or government ID scan to confirm claimed ages, drew near-instant ire; one user, Alastair, also known as Eret, who hosts a server with more than 60, 000 users, said simply, "I do not trust them. " Vishnevskiy addressed past errors directly, writing, "We've made mistakes. I won't pretend we haven't. And I know that being a bigger company now means our mistakes have bigger consequences and erode trust faster. I don't expect one blog post to fix that. "

Policy aims, regulation and broader debate

Discord says it uses an internal "age determination" system that looks at "how long your account has existed, whether you have a payment method on file, what types of servers you're in, and general patterns of account activity. " Vishnevskiy said this system "does not read your messages, analyse your conversations, or look at the content you post. " The company is attempting to align its approach with new and expected rules around social media access for young people in places such as the UK, Australia, the EU and Brazil, and as individual US states consider their own rules. The platform, which says it has 200 million monthly users, is also said to be planning to go public this year. Public opinion and advocacy are split: recent polling indicates over four in five Americans support some type of required age verification, while advocates warn that such measures can lead to censorship and risk violating privacy and First Amendment protections for online anonymity. Discord has taken other steps on safety in recent years, including banning misgendering and deadnaming in 2023 as part of an update to its Hateful Conduct Policy.

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