Discord is delaying its age verification update after backlash
Discord, the wildly popular and free-to-use communication app that has been a mainstay of gamers and other communities for more than a decade, has announced that it is delaying the global rollout of its age verification requirements and “Teen-by-Default” policy until the “second half of 2026,” meaning the update won’t come until early July at the earliest.
The news – presented by chief technology officer Stanislav Vishnevskiy in a new blog post – comes after weeks of outcry from users around the world, and after a search for “Discord alternatives” increased by 10,000%. Obviously, many are uncomfortable with the idea of submitting their videos or their government-issued IDs to prove they are not teenagers in order to continue accessing age-restricted channels.
It also promises to list every verification vendor it works with on its website, and says users will have more vendors to choose from, with Discord promising to make it clear to you “who each vendor is, what method they use, and how they treat your data.”
Discord says that “Every vendor we work with goes through a security and privacy review before integration,” and explains that this includes “contractual limits on data use, and strict retention and deletion requirements.” Any information submitted for verification is “only kept for the minimum time necessary, which means in most cases it is deleted immediately.”
Ultimately, moving away from facial age estimation and ID checks where possible is a clear step in the right direction, although it’s unfortunate that region-specific laws force Discord to use these verification methods in certain countries. Still, a win is a win.
“We made mistakes. I won’t pretend we don’t have any. And I know that being a big company now means that our mistakes have big consequences and destroy trust quickly. I don’t expect one blog post to fix that,” Vishnevskiy wrote. “Trust is earned through actions over time: delivering the things we promised, owning up when we miss the mark, and giving you real control over your experience.”
“Listen to us. We will fix this. And when we post, you will be able to see for yourself,” he added.
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