Discord will soon require age verification for adult content

Discord has unveiled a sweeping overhaul of its platform, introducing default teen safety settings for all users starting in March. The move comes as the messaging giant faces mounting pressure to protect minors from online exploitation, following lawsuits and growing public concern over child safety on social media platforms.

With over 200 million global monthly active users, Discord is implementing age-gated content and communication tools unless users verify their age or the platform independently assesses their account as likely belonging to an adult. To achieve this, Discord will partner with third-party verification service k-ID for age and identification checks, while also relying on an advanced inference model that analyzes hundreds of signals to accurately determine a user’s age.

“We want the experience to feel more like you’re on Main Street,” Savannah Badalich, head of product policy at Discord, told Mashable. “If you’re going into an adult space, you do ID verification or something like that, whereas the Main Street itself is built for just generally [everyone].” Badalich emphasized that users won’t be able to bypass these safety measures by using a virtual private network (VPN) to conceal their location, as the default settings will be universal.

The new policy arrives amid sustained pressure on social media platforms to improve safety for minors. A 2025 lawsuit filed against Discord and gaming platform Roblox alleged that together, the platforms created a “breeding ground for predators.” At the heart of the complaint is an anonymous 11-year-old girl who was allegedly groomed, sexually exploited, and raped by a perpetrator who used Roblox and Discord to communicate with her.

In late 2025, Discord launched a hub allowing parents or guardians to monitor their teen’s activity, including the top five users they messaged and called, the servers they messaged most frequently, their total call minutes in voice and video, and all purchases they’ve made. However, critics like Haley McNamara, executive director and chief strategy officer of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, argued that these features placed the burden of youth safety on parents rather than implementing fundamental design changes.

Under the new system, Discord will preemptively assess accounts that seem to belong to adults and grant them access to age-gated content and features. However, the platform has not shared its confidence in accurately predicting user age, acknowledging that false positives may occur. Beginning in March, any user whose age is unverified or whose account has been placed in teen settings will need to either submit an ID or go through a facial estimation process to gain full access to Discord.

Only adults will be able to unblur sensitive content, turn off the setting, access age-gated channels and servers, receive message requests directly instead of to a separate inbox, and speak on a “stage” in a Discord server. Badalich described the new policy as “a foundational change to how we think about Discord.”

Discord began using age assurance measures in the UK and Australia last year, though not without challenges. In the UK, some users initially bypassed the age check requirement by submitting a realistic-looking selfie of a video game character, which was deemed adult. Badalich told Mashable that Discord and k-ID worked “tirelessly” to patch that vulnerability, and that the experience has informed its subsequent age assurance efforts.

The platform’s efforts to enhance teen safety come with privacy concerns. In October, Discord announced that a third-party customer support vendor had been hacked, breaching 70,000 government IDs provided by users. When users submit identity documents to k-ID, the documents will be deleted quickly, if not immediately, according to Discord.

As Discord rolls out these changes, the company acknowledges that teens are creative and will try to find ways around the new safety measures. The platform’s commitment to protecting minors marks a significant shift in its approach, balancing the need for safety with the desire to maintain an open and accessible community for all users.

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