Discord, a messaging app mostly used by gamers, has announced that its introducing stricter age verification measures that will affect users worldwide starting March 2026.
Under the new process, all accounts (new and existing) will be automatically set to “teen-appropriate experience” unless the users verifies that they are older than 18 years of age and then will be able to access adult-level features.
Users who want full access to age-restricted areas, sensitive content, or certain server settings may be asked to confirm their age. Verification options include: facial age estimation via video selfie processed on the user’s device, uploading a government-issued ID through trusted partners. Discord has said that the verification process only needs to happen once, and submitted documents are deleted soon after age is confirmed.
Discord also uses an age-inference model — an internal system that estimates whether a user is an adult based on information like account history and general usage patterns. If this model is confident, users might not need to do a face scan or ID upload at all.
Users who aren’t verified as adults will be limited to safer, teen-default settings. These include access only to age-appropriate servers; content filtering and blurred sensitive media; and limits on direct messaging and certain communications tools.
The announcement has drawn mixed reactions from Discord’s community. Many users have expressed frustration, with some threatening to delete their accounts rather than submit personal data.
Concerns are heightened by a security incident in late 2025, when hackers gained access to a third-party vendor system and exposed personal information (including ID images) from around 70,000 users who had previously submitted data.
Discord says it no longer uses that vendor and doesn’t store ID documents or video selfies permanently.
