Starting Wednesday, Discord will implement age verification processes for its user base.
This decision follows an earlier postponement of the verification system in February, prompted by user concerns regarding the potential privacy implications of biometric data and ID verification. These fears were validated when a vendor affiliated with Discord experienced a data breach last year, exposing the information of around 70,000 users, including government-issued IDs and selfies for identity verification.
In a blog entry Tuesday, Discord’s Chief Technology Officer, Stanislav Vishnevskiy, acknowledged the strong opinions and skepticism surrounding age verification, particularly related to the sharing of biometric or ID information. He noted that as age verification laws increase globally, Discord has successfully introduced these measures in regions like Brazil and Texas.
However, Vishnevskiy reassured that over 90% of Discord users would not need to confirm their age. Instead, the platform will leverage existing account data to identify indicators such as account age, device and activity data, and usage patterns to categorize users as adults, teens, or those requiring confirmation.
Discord clarified that it does not determine users’ ages based on their messages, profile information, or demographic details.
The company explained, “The usage patterns of a typical 15-year-old differ significantly from those of a 30-year-old on Discord.” Their machine learning model recognizes these differences to estimate whether an account likely belongs to an adult or a teen.
Notably, this process does not involve collecting new user data. Such retention of user information is a common practice among social media platforms, although the explicit nature of the process may be disconcerting for users.
Due to local regulations requiring Discord to employ age verification technologies in specific areas, the platform has collected reliable data linking user behavior to age to train its system.
For users whose ages are uncertain, alternative verification methods are available that do not require biometric or ID scans. They may provide details from a credit card or age information associated with their Apple or Google accounts.
For users confirmed as adults, the platform will remain unchanged. However, accounts identified as teens will automatically have restricted access to age-sensitive servers or channels. Message requests from non-friends will be relocated to a separate inbox, and teens will receive notifications when accepting requests from users with whom they share no mutual connections.
With governments worldwide adopting age verification laws to protect minors online, experts caution that such checks could lead to new privacy and security challenges. This places platforms like Discord in a precarious position, balancing compliance with potential penalties.
