Global rollout delayed: Discord pushes back global age verification after backlash

Discord said Wednesday it will delay its global age verification rollout after receiving user criticism. The company announced the phased plan earlier this month and now says the wider rollout will be pushed back while it addresses concerns.

Rollout design and timing

Earlier this month Discord announced a phased rollout for new and existing users that would implement video selfies to determine a person's age group. Users could also submit a form of identification to their vendor partners. The rollout was supposed to begin in early March and would give underage users a "teen-appropriate experience" that included updated communication settings, content filtering and restricted access to age-gated spaces.

Age verification vendor Persona exposed

Researchers investigating the checks discovered an exposed frontend belonging to Persona, the identity-verification vendor used by Discord. They found a publicly exposed Persona frontend on a US government–authorized server with 2, 456 accessible files. Researcher "Celeste" said the exposed code, which has now been removed, sat at a US government-authorized endpoint that appeared to have been isolated from its regular work environment.

What researchers found in files

The files showed Persona Identities, Inc. performs far more than simple age estimation. Beyond checking age, the software performs 269 distinct verification checks, runs facial recognition against watchlists and politically exposed persons, screens "adverse media" across 14 categories including terrorism and espionage, and assigns risk and similarity scores. Persona collects—and can retain for up to three years—IP addresses, browser and device fingerprints, government ID numbers, phone numbers, names, faces, plus selfie analytics such as suspicious-entity detection, pose repeat detection, and age inconsistency checks.

Peter Thiel-backed surveillance ties

Independent reporting found Persona has ties to U. S. government surveillance and that the venture is partially funded by Founders Fund, co-founded by Peter Thiel. Persona and Discord said their partnership, which lasted less than a month, is no longer in effect in a February 24 statement. The decision to cut ties followed the researchers' findings that Persona compares submitted photos to government watchlist photos and runs broad screening routines that go well beyond simple age checks.

Company response and user options

Discord’s chief technology officer, Stanislav Vishnevskiy, wrote in a Wednesday blog post that the platform "missed the mark" and that the rollout is being delayed to the second half of 2026. He said the platform will not require face scans or ID uploads from everyone, and that over 90% of users will never need to verify their age. In his post he wrote: "Let me be upfront: we knew this rollout was going to be controversial. 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. " He added: "If you’re among the less than 10% of users who do need to verify, we’ll give you options, designed to tell us only your age and never your identity. "

Vishnevskiy also said Discord no longer works with the vendor that was linked to last year's breach and acknowledged past errors: "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. " He concluded with: "We’re listening. We’ll get this right. And when we ship, you’ll be able to see for yourselves. "

Tests, data handling and related changes

Discord has said the partnership testing included only a small number of users and that information submitted during tests is deleted after seven days; a spokesperson summarized that "only a small number of users’ data was part of this test" and that submitted information is deleted after seven days. An archived support page noted that UK users "may be part of an experiment" in which their age verification information is processed through Persona. Separately, researchers said they are in direct contact with Persona CEO Rick Song, who "has been responsive and engaged in good faith. "

Backlash, prior breach and policy changes

Criticism was immediate. Many users pointed to an October security breach of a third-party provider Discord used that exposed government ID photos for thousands of users; the company had previously acknowledged that "approximately 70, 000 users may have had government-ID photos exposed" after one of its third-party vendors was hacked. In response to backlash, Discord rolled back the original announcement and amended its global age verification policy so that age verification would be optional unless users wanted to view age-restricted channels. News of Persona’s surveillance ties came less than a month after Discord announced the since-amended policy in which users must complete a face or ID scan in order to avoid facing content restrictions. Starting in March, users’ accounts would have been automatically set to a "teen-appropriate" experience unless they proved they were legal adults.

Broader debate and international context

Researchers and privacy advocates have raised broader questions about whether age verification achieves its goals. Persona was reportedly tested in the UK during experiments. Separately, analysis of an Australian ban on social media for under-16s noted the rules had been in force for six weeks and that the country's internet regulator said it had shut down about 4. 7 million accounts held by under-16s on platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, X, Twitch, Reddit, and Threads, even as interviews indicated many children still accessed banned apps through simple workarounds. Polling cited in coverage indicates over 4 in 5 Americans support some type of required age verification, while advocates warn such measures can lead to censorship, endanger children by violating privacy, and threaten online anonymity and free-expression rights. Finally, Discord has taken other platform moderation steps in recent years, including a 2023 update that banned misgendering and deadnaming as part of its Hateful Conduct Policy.

Minyvonne Burke is a senior breaking news reporter.

Users, researchers and the company now await the delayed second-half-of-2026 rollout while debate continues over how to balance age safety with privacy and surveillance concerns.