Discord Will Soon Require Age Verification To Access Some Content

Tech

Feb 11

Discord App (By Rokas Tenys/Alamy) — Image Source: Wired

Last Monday, Discord, the messaging platform popular with gamers and online communities, announced that starting in March 2026, all of its 200 million monthly active users could be placed on "teen-by-default" settings. Users will need to verify their age to access certain content and communication features in both public and private servers and DMs, unless Discord’s system identifies the account as belonging to an adult based on factors like account age, device, and activity patterns. Regular DMs and non-age-restricted servers will continue to function as usual. However, users won’t be able to send messages or view content in age-restricted servers until they complete the verification process, even if they were previously a member. New age-restricted servers will also be off-limits without verification.

The controversial age verification requires users to submit either a video selfie or a government-issued ID via Discord’s vendor partners. According to the press release announcing the new measures, IDs “will be deleted quickly and, in most cases, immediately after age confirmation.” The platform plans to add more options in the future. In a quote for The Verge, Savannah Badalich, Discord’s global head of product policy, said, “For most adults, age verification won’t be required, as Discord’s age inference model uses account information such as account tenure, device and activity data, and aggregated, high-level patterns across Discord communities. Discord does not use private messages or any message content in this process.”

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These changes follow growing concerns about minor safety issues on social media. A 2025 lawsuit against Discord and Roblox claimed the platforms created “a breeding ground for predators.” Similar age-verification measures have been introduced by Roblox and YouTube as part of wider efforts to protect younger users. However, privacy concerns remain, with some users hesitant to share IDs, especially after Discord revealed last October that roughly 70,000 users’ government ID photos may have been exposed during a hack of a third-party vendor handling age-related appeals.

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