Social media platform Discord faces backlash following age verification announcement

Messaging and social platform Discord has announced a requirement for age verification through facial recognition to use some of its features.

The announcement has received backlash from its community, with privacy and trust being raised as concerns for long-time users.

Teen-by-default setting

Discord on Monday issued a press release, indicating that users will be “teen-by-default” with a worldwide roll out. The platform expressed its commitment to build a space where its features are safe and age appropriate for users.

“As part of this update, all new and existing users worldwide will have a teen-appropriate experience by default, with updated communication settings, restricted access to age-gated spaces, and content filtering that preserves the privacy and meaningful connections that define Discord,” Discord noted in its press release.

Head of Product Policy at Discord, Savannah Badalich, said that the announcement was made with the celebration of Safer Internet Day, highlighting that the platform will continue working with safety experts and policymakers for the well-being of its teen users.

Features that will have age restrictions and which will require age verification are Content Filters, Message Request settings, Server’s Stage, Age-restricted Channels, Servers, and Commands.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: EU flags TikTok for breaking Digital Services Act

Concerns over Privacy

Long-time users of Discord have expressed their skepticism and privacy concerns, as the platform will be asking for a face scan.

The skepticism was following its issue in 2025, in which 70,000 government IDs were exposed from a data breach of the third-party service that Discord used.

In October 2025, Discord said in its press release that the breach was not by Discord, but its third-party service 5CA, used for customer service.

However, 5CA released a statement saying that they were not responsible for the breach.

“Of the accounts impacted globally, we have identified approximately 70,000 users that may have had government-ID photos exposed, which our vendor used to review age-related appeals,” stated Discord.

Following the backlash, Discord followed up with clarifications, highlighting that the majority of people can continue using their account without uploading their IDs and verifying their age. They noted that some features will just become unavailable.

READ NEXT: Notable achievements made since COVID-19 pandemic