Discord has postponed plans to begin verifying the age of all users in March after weeks of criticism from its community, with the company now saying the rollout will move to the second half of this year.
Decision To Delay The Rollout
Stanislav Vishnevskiy, Discord’s co-founder and chief technology officer, said a planned global process to identify users under 16 would be delayed. He wrote in a Tuesday blog post that the company would still meet any legal obligations related to age verification and that age checks will remain part of the platform’s future.
“We knew this rollout was going to be controversial,” Vishnevskiy wrote. “In hindsight, we should have provided more detail about our intentions and how the process works.”
He added that broader distrust of technology companies and online surveillance has contributed to concerns about why Discord is introducing age verification and how any information would be used.
Changes To The Verification Approach
Discord said it is now developing “more verification options” that would not require facial scans or ID uploads. One option under development is credit card verification. The company said fewer than 10% of users are expected to need to verify their age once the system is introduced.
Users who are flagged as needing verification would be blocked from accessing age-restricted content and would have some default settings applied until their age is confirmed.
Existing Age Determination System
Vishnevskiy said part of the reason only a small share of users would need to verify their age is that Discord already uses an internal “age determination” system. He said that system looks at factors such as how long an account has existed, whether a payment method is on file, what types of servers the user joins, and general patterns of account activity.
He said the system does not read messages, analyze conversations, or review posted content. He added that Discord will publish details of this methodology before global age verification is introduced.
Original Plan And Regulatory Pressure
Discord, which says it has 200 million monthly users, initially planned to default users into a version of the app for people under 16 until their age was verified. The company has been working to align with new and proposed rules around youth access to social media in regions including the UK, Australia, the EU, Brazil, and several U.S. states.
The company is also planning to go public this year, according to multiple reports.
User Reaction And Privacy Concerns
The original plan would have required a facial scan, photo, or government ID to confirm a user’s age, which drew immediate criticism. Alastair, also known as Eret, who runs a server with more than 60,000 users, told the BBC, “I do not trust them.”
Many users were drawn to Discord because it allowed the creation of private, invite-only spaces where people can chat by text, voice, or video. Concerns about privacy have been amplified by recent security incidents.
Recent Security Issues
In October, photos of official IDs from about 70,000 users that Discord had collected through a previous age-verification partner were likely exposed in a cyberattack. Discord said on Tuesday that when it eventually launches a global system, no images used for verification will be stored.
In the past week, researchers also found that Persona, another company Discord had partnered with in the UK, had left thousands of files exposed on the open internet. Discord said its test with Persona was limited and has ended, and the company distanced itself from that incident.
Platform Growth And Demographics
Discord has grown rapidly in recent years, especially among gamers and streamers who use the platform to gather, often anonymously. Since the pandemic, Vishnevskiy said the number of teenagers using Discord has increased significantly.
Featured image credits: Ivan Radic via Flickr
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