Discord has faced criticism for its age verification, or as they call it, “Teen-by-Default” update. Most of the criticism arises from privacy concerns, but Discord has pushed back on these criticisms, emphasizing that there are safeguards in place to protect data and privacy.
The company has confirmed that most users will never need to submit sensitive data, and that face scans used for age checks will remain on-device rather than on servers. This is part of Discord’s effort to balance safety features with user privacy as stricter age-related rules roll out next month.
This new system is designed to ensure a safer online experience for the younger audience. However, the whole process and how they handle these verifications has stirred a debate about privacy and data security. Discord uses biometric data and documents to verify a user’s age, both of which are highly sensitive personal information.
Discord plans to default all accounts to a “teen-appropriate” experience unless they prove they are adults, which affects who can access age-gated servers, sensitive media, and certain chat features.
How Discord Says The System Works
Discord has outlined several key points to reassure users and clarify what the age verification process actually entails. Firstly, regarding the biometric data, mainly face scans, Discord has assured users that biometric processing occurs locally on the user’s device and that nothing is sent to the server. They have emphasized that these facial images/videos never leave your device.
Discord plans to default all accounts to a “teen-appropriate” experience unless they prove they are adults, which affects who can access age-gated servers, sensitive media, and certain chat features. Then, there are the identity documents, which have also raised concerns. For this, Discord has stated that these documents are purely used for age verification and are deleted after that.
On top of that, Discord has also assured users that they already know who the adult users on the app are, as their inference model is trained to look for behavioral patterns, account tenure, and activity to calculate if someone is an adult or not. So, many users won’t even be asked to submit a selfie or ID. Lastly, the company highlighted that users’ age status remains private and is not visible to other community members
Of course, not all users are reassured, and that’s to be expected. Facial scans and IDs are highly sensitive information that can cause huge harm to the individual if used inappropriately. Despite Discord’s efforts to reassure its users, there is still tension and doubt in the air. Plus, the data breach in 2025 that exposed a lot of identity documents from Discord doesn’t help build credibility among users.
As the rollout approaches, the conversation around Discord’s age verification reflects wider debates in tech about how to protect younger users while respecting user privacy and avoiding unnecessary data collection.
