Discord revamps age verification checks

• Discord says its age estimation does not analyse messages, calls or other content.
• Teen accounts receive additional protections around contacts, content and profile visibility.
• Discord has added several age assurance methods that do not require an ID or selfie.

Discord has launched a new global age assurance system that places users into either a teen or adult age group.

The updated system is rolling out over the course of this week, with some settings and verification methods varying by region. 

Discord will use account-level signals such as account history, activity patterns, connected communities, servers and games to estimate a user's age group.

The company said its system does not analyse messages, calls, images or other files to determine age. Users can check their status through user settings, then account status and correct it if needed.

Teen protections

Teen users aged 13 to 17 can continue messaging friends, joining voice calls, playing games and participating in non-age-restricted communities. 

However, messages from non-friends are routed to message requests and sensitive images may be blurred or blocked, while age-restricted servers, channels and bot commands are unavailable.

Discord has also introduced additional age confirmation methods, including credit cards, Apple and Google age ranges, Google Wallet, AgeKey, on-device facial age estimation and ID scans.

The company said vendors must delete submitted information after checks, while facial age estimation must run entirely on the user's device.

Discord claimed more than 90% of users are expected to avoid having to confirm their age.

“We’ve significantly evolved our data-handling practices to ensure we will only ever receive information about your age group, and no personal data beyond that," said Discord CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy. 

“No matter which vendor you use to confirm your age, we won’t receive your name, your credit card, your ID, or a scan of your face. Instead, the information is processed by vendors like k-ID, who then pass us a signal containing your age group."