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PC Gamer

Jess Kinghorn

Age verification checks are now in force in the UK because of the Online Safety Act, but with the Discord fallout, it seems like one bad idea after another

Discord United Kingdom United States Persona Bluesky Ice Internet KWS Palantir

The Discord logo on a phone on top of a dark laptop.

Jess Kinghorn, hardware writer

(Image credit: Future)

This week I've been: Taking to Discord to sell my favourite weirdoes on my current cozy games of choice: Starsand Island, Potionomics, and Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale.

Currently, I can't check my Bluesky direct messages until I've allowed the Epic Games-owned KWS to look at either my bank card, my ID, or my wizened visage. As I'm based in the UK, it's not just Bluesky I've got to worry about either, with similar verification processes now present on Reddit, Discord, and even my partner's Xbox.

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