Discord will soon require proof of age to access 18+ servers and content

Discord today announced new age-restriction protocols in a bid to keep teen users more safe on the platform, including requiring some users to prove their age via ID or facial scan in order to get access to certain areas.

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Discord is one of the most influential communication platforms on the planet, and has become the de-facto place to talk about--and promote--the billion-dollar video games industry, among many others. It's also where communities thrive, allowing users to engage in a forum-like environment with the added bonus of real-time chatting. With swelling engagement and adoption, Discord is eyeing a public offering, and making some transformations.

One of the biggest changes is that users may now have to prove their age in order to access Discord in its totality: "Beginning with a phased global rollout to new and existing users in early March, users may be required to engage in an age-verification process to change certain settings or access sensitive content. This includes age-restricted channels, servers, or commands and select message requests."

Essentially what is going to happen is all new and existing Discord users will be age-restricted by default. To change this, you might have to prove your age, Discord says.

So what do the age restrictions look like? Blurred images that are deemed "sensitive," not being able to access 18+ servers and communities, new direct message settings, and being able to speak publicly in Discord's vocal Stage Channels.

"Last year, Discord successfully launched a teen-by-default experience in the UK and Australia, and this global rollout builds on that approach to deliver consistent, age-appropriate protections worldwide."

The press release then goes on to give a step-by-step on what's involved with the age verification:

Privacy-Forward Age Assurance

Age assurance is the foundation of this new experience and is designed to respect Discord users' privacy and choice. Discord users can choose to use facial age estimation or submit a form of identification to its vendor partners, with more options coming in the future. Additionally, Discord will implement its age inference model, a new system that runs in the background to help determine whether an account belongs to an adult, without always requiring users to verify their age. Some users may be asked to use multiple methods if more information is needed to assign an age group.

Key privacy protections of Discord's age-assurance approach include:

• On-device processing:Video selfies for facial age estimation never leave a user's device.
• Quick deletion: Identity documents submitted to our vendor partners are deleted quickly- in most cases, immediately after age confirmation.
• Straightforward verification: In most cases, users complete the process once and their Discord experience adapts to their verified age group. Users may be asked to use multiple methods only when more information is needed to assign an age group.
• Private status:A user's age verification status cannot be seen by other users.

After completing a chosen method, users will receive confirmation via a direct message from Discord's official account. A user's assigned age group can also be viewed at any time in "My Account" settings.

Users can always go to "My Account" settings to appeal their assigned age group by retrying the process.

Discord prompts users to age-assure only within Discord and currently does not send emails or text messages about its age assurance process or results.