The free communication app Discord introduced an unpopular age verification requirement for its service this week and has tried to clarify its stance today, but fans are still unhappy.
Earlier this week, Discord announced plans to roll out age-verification protocols, officially starting in March. These requirements are meant to protect younger users from inappropriate content or predatory individuals, but literally require users to get facial age estimation scans (which have been proven to be very hit-or-miss for the platform and, in Roblox‘s case), or “submit a form of identification to its vendor partners.” Now, Discord has issued further clarifications about the new guidelines while downplaying what will be affected by the changes. The entire post has been uploaded to X and can be seen below.
Fans were immediately alarmed by the requirements, as Discord had suffered a major data breach which exposed approximately 70,000 user IDs (and the users’ personal information) in September 2025. The clarification statement posted today was designed to lift those user worries and inform users how their data is safe, with the post basically stating, “We are partnering with dedicated age assurance vendors who specialize in performing these verifications in a privacy-forward way. These vendors were not involved in the September 2025 data breach of our customer service agent.” The clarification post also promises to delete IDs right after age is confirmed.
However, fans aren’t too happy with the clarification post. On X, fans have taken to the comments under the post to express their frustration with the new requirements. While many users have genuinely expressed confusion due to the terms of the statement, others have been less keen to believe their data is safe now, or that Discord actually deletes the data as it says.
User Mischief_ says, “I don’t trust you with more sensitive info. Period. So again, no thank you.” Another user says, “Why are you rolling this feature out worldwide when the vast majority of countries never asked for it? Literally no one requested this,” and others have expressed frustration and have threatened to quit the platform altogether, suggesting parents should ‘just be allowed to parent.’
Although users don’t necessarily need to upload personal identification and can opt for a “Facial Age Estimation,” fans have already proven that this could be easily bypassed. Last month, Roblox rolled out a similar feature that required a facial age estimation (that fans also did not like), and fans proved the system could fail by using Sam Bridges (or Norman Reedus’ face) from Death Stranding 2 as a stand-in for their real face. On top of that, the secondary market (like eBay) was almost instantly flooded with age-verified accounts listed for $4 and less, exacerbating the issue further. While security is still an issue on these platforms, fans have made it clear that age verifications are as unpopular as ever.
