Tue, 24 Feb 2026

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 Discord delays age verification plans after user outcry

Users were unhappy about plans for age verification to require facial or ID scans.
The company's co-founder and CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy acknowledged that the rollout was "going to be controversial" and admitted that Discord should have provided more details about its intentions and how the process works. Discord stressed that it will meet any specific legal obligations for age verification of users and that age verification will become a part of the platform in the future. However, the company is developing alternative verification methods that do not require facial or ID scans, including credit card verification. The planned global rollout was met with widespread criticism from Discord's community, with many users expressing distrust over why the platform needs to verify their age and what it will do with such information. Vishnevskiy wrote in a blog post that a broader mistrust in tech companies and online surveillance has contributed to the concern over age verification. He acknowledged that "it's earned" and added that Discord plans to publish its age determination methodology before rolling out age verification globally. The platform is aiming to comply with new rules around social media access for young people in various countries, including the UK, Australia, the EU, and Brazil. Discord initially planned to roll out a system where users would be defaulted into a version of Discord created for people under 16 years old until their age was verified. Less than 10% of users are expected to need to verify their age when the company does roll out the process later this year. Those who do will not have access to "age-restricted content" and some default settings will be put in place until their age is verified. Discord already uses an internal "age determination" system that looks at account activity patterns, including payment methods on file, types of servers used, and length of time the account has existed. This system does not read messages or analyze conversations to determine a user's age.
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