this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2026
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Discord announced on Monday that it’s rolling out age verification on its platform globally starting next month, when it will automatically set all users’ accounts to a “teen-appropriate” experience unless they demonstrate that they’re adults.

Users who aren’t verified as adults will not be able to access age-restricted servers and channels, won’t be able to speak in Discord’s livestream-like “stage” channels, and will see content filters for any content Discord detects as graphic or sensitive. They will also get warning prompts for friend requests from potentially unfamiliar users, and DMs from unfamiliar users will be automatically filtered into a separate inbox.

Direct messages and servers that are not age-restricted will continue to function normally, but users won’t be able to send messages or view content in an age-restricted server until they complete the age check process, even if it’s a server they were part of before age verification rolled out. Savannah Badalich, Discord’s global head of product policy, said in an interview with The Verge that those servers will be “obfuscated” with a black screen until the user verifies they’re an adult. Users also won’t be able to join any new age-restricted servers without verifying their age.

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[–] naught101@lemmy.world 3 points 45 minutes ago
[–] TerdFerguson@lemmy.world 18 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (5 children)

Ok. Well I will delete my account then.

This kind of enshittification is intolerable. The reason this exists is solely to tie your online behaviour to your real life identity.

“They” want to control people’s conversations in the digital third spaces. And to find ways to punish you for the thoughts they disapprove of. Discord is happy to sell that data to whomever is buying it.

Oh well. More fediverse, please!

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[–] HalfSalesman@lemmy.world 7 points 5 hours ago

Yeah, I'm not doing that.

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 10 points 6 hours ago

Month after they'll need a semen sample and hat size.

And people will do it.

[–] hayvan@feddit.nl 7 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

“For most adults, age verification won’t be required, as Discord’s age inference model uses account information such as account tenure, device and activity data, and aggregated, high-level patterns across Discord communities. Discord does not use private messages or any message content in this process,”

The inference model probably sucks and will fail yo distinguish a lot of users.

[–] TerdFerguson@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Translation: we wont age verify you or collect the biometrics if we already have what we want through other channels (federated SSO, data sharing agreements)

Your facial geometry wont be needed if facebook already has it and your discord identity is linked to that one(through your permission or not)

[–] wuffah@lemmy.world 22 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (6 children)

Discord is not needed. Quit. Kill them. Watch them BEG to get us back, then say no.

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[–] LoafedBurrito@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Luckily i never understood what discord was for, so i never joined. But yet another company that will crash and burn because they hate consumer privacy.

[–] Soup@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

It’s for online communities, group chats, and audio/video calls with streaming built-in. It’s really very good and incredibly easy to learn how to use, but recently it’s been pulling some increasingly concerning shit. Started simple and clean, then started adding shit for who knows why.

In this case it’s to please the anti-porn companies and places like the UK.

[–] baitu@jlai.lu 18 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Each day that pass we get closer from Chinese internet

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[–] Thor_Whale@lemmus.org 11 points 8 hours ago

If that's true then rest in peace discord. Or rest in hell I should say.

[–] termaxima@slrpnk.net 15 points 10 hours ago (3 children)

My discord account is ELEVEN YEARS OLD !? Why would I ever need to prove that I am not a teen !? I would have had to create my account when I was 6 years old to still be a teen with this account, which is obviously ridiculous.

[–] elvis_depresley@sh.itjust.works 3 points 7 hours ago

I guess it so that they comply with all the new laws popping up in all the countries...

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[–] CumbrianCucumber@lemmy.world 10 points 9 hours ago (3 children)

Direct messages and servers that are not age-restricted will continue to function normally

So in other words, if you only use Discord as a messaging app and for small servers between friends, this won't affect you?

I honestly have no idea why Discord started trying to push itself as some normal social media like Facebook, and why people started treating it as such. Discord was a glorified telephone line with gifs and web links. I don't need some manufactured sense of "community" among thousands of people who happen to watch the same YouTuber as me.

[–] MathiasTCK@lemmy.world 5 points 5 hours ago

Discord is a vocal opponent of the laws requiring this stuff and helps the legal fights trying to stop this from becoming mandatory by law. My impression is they are doing what they think they legally have to in a growing number of countries and states.

https://bsky.app/profile/rahaeli.bsky.social/post/3meiroz7b322w

" Discord is a member of Netchoice, the trade organization that's fighting these laws in the US, and they've shown up for pretty much every lawsuit since they joined. I can't say for certain[1] but I HIGHLY doubt they are doing this because they want to. "

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[–] amos@slrpnk.net 20 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (2 children)

Slightly Off-Topic:

I never liked Discord. First and foremost, nowadays, I cannot log into it when I am using a VPN. And back when I could, it always felt so laggy and clunky.

I think todays society is not used to performant software. Everyone just buys a new computer/smartphone every year or every 2 years or so, so they probably have compute power to run whatsoever. I run old shit. 13 year old desktops or so, with no dedicated graphics card, old smartphones, etc. I need software to be performant.

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