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Discord to Launch Global Teen-By-Default Settings, Requiring Age Checks From March

The company points to on-device selfies with rapid vendor deletion to ease privacy concerns after a previous third‑party ID leak.

Overview

  • Beginning in early March, Discord will phase in a global update that places all new and existing accounts into a teen-appropriate experience until age is verified.
  • Unverified users will see sensitive content blurred, lose access to age-restricted servers and channels, have unknown DMs routed to a separate inbox, receive friend-request warnings, and be unable to speak on Stage channels.
  • Adult access can be restored by completing facial age estimation processed on-device or by submitting an ID to third‑party partners, with some users asked for multiple methods though most will verify once.
  • Discord will also deploy a background age‑inference model that can reduce prompts or, for high‑confidence cases, allow adult access without an active verification step.
  • The rollout follows an October 2025 breach at a former vendor that exposed about 70,000 ID photos; Discord says it changed partners and acknowledges it expects some user loss as checks expand worldwide.