Discord is expanding stricter age settings to users around the world.
The messaging-based social platform announced on Monday that starting next month, it will set all new and existing accounts to what it calls “teen-by-default” settings. That means users who want access to age-restricted content and features will now need to verify they are adults.
The move comes as governments are increasingly scrutinizing the impact of social media on children and teens. Earlier this year, Australia became the first country to start enforcing a law banning social media accounts for children under 16. Other countries, including Spain, Denmark, and Malaysia, have signaled plans to pursue similar restrictions.
Discord previously introduced age verification requirements in Australia and the U.K. to comply with the country’s Online Safety Act, a sweeping set of rules passed in 2023 aimed at preventing minors from accessing pornography and other harmful content related to self-harm, suicide, and eating disorders.
Now, even in countries where age verification is not legally required, Discord is moving forward with the changes globally.
“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, head of product policy at Discord, wrote 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.”
To verify their age, users will have two primary options. They can take a video selfie to get a face-based age estimate, which Discord says is processed on and does not leave a user’s device. Alternatively, users can upload a government-issued ID to one of Discord’s third-party vendor partners, which the company says deletes documents shortly after confirmation.
Discord is also expanding its age inference model, a system designed to determine whether an account likely belongs to an adult, without always requiring manual verification.
Users who are not verified as adults will be restricted from accessing sensitive content, age-restricted channels, and certain interactive features. Only age-verified adults will be able to speak on Discord Stage channels, audio-based spaces used for live events, panels, and Q&As.
Age verification, however, remains controversial. In the past, some users have found creative ways to bypass verification systems on various platforms. And last October, one of Discord’s third-party age verification vendors reportedly suffered a data breach exposing user information, including photos of government IDs.
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