Discord to roll out mandatory age verification and "teen-by-default" safety settings globally next month

Discord has announced that it will begin a phased global rollout of new “teen-by-default” safety settings in early March, requiring users to provide ID or use AI-powered age estimation to access sensitive or age-restricted content.

The details:

• As announced by Discord, starting in early March, the platform will implement its new “teen-by-default” settings, meaning every new and existing account will initially see stricter communication controls and content filters applied by default, targeting a teenage demographic.
• Unverified users will now be unable to unblur media flagged as sensitive, join 18+ rated channels or servers, use certain commands, or speak in stage channels. Any direct messages received from users that they may not know will also be filtered and placed behind additional warnings in an attempt to counter any potential dangers.
• In order to access content that the platform believes is targeted at mature audiences, users will need to verify their age by providing either a government-issued ID to Discord’s partners or by using on-device facial age estimation via a video selfie.
• Discord has stated that not all users will be required to engage with the feature, and it has been noted that some, such as those from the UK and Australia, may have already verified their account. The company explained that the “privacy-forward” age assurance system it is using keeps facial selfies on the user’s device, while ID documents sent to verification partners are deleted almost immediately after being used.