Discord Launches Global Age Verification System for Age-Restricted Content

Discord has introduced a global age verification system that estimates each user’s age and asks some users to prove they are old enough to access age-restricted content. Discord said it will take several days for the system to reach all user accounts worldwide.

The rollout follows changes to Discord’s original age-checking plans, which were announced in February. The company scrapped its initial approach after users raised concerns about privacy.

Those concerns were heightened by a 2025 incident in which hackers reportedly stole the government IDs of 70,000 Discord users from a third-party service used by Discord to verify ages in the United Kingdom and Australia.

How Discord’s age verification system works

Discord’s original plan required users to upload government IDs or scan their faces when attempting to access age-restricted servers and channels. Under the revised system, Discord is offering additional options, according to details shared by Discord CTO and co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy.

“As of February, the only methods we planned to verify your age were facial age estimation or ID scanning. Based on your feedback, we are committed to providing more options that meet our high privacy standards,” Vishnevskiy wrote.

Discord automatically estimates a user’s age and places each account into one of three categories:

• Adult: Users aged 18 and older.
• Teen: Users aged 13 to 17.
• Unconfirmed: Users whose available information is insufficient to determine whether they are adults or teenagers.

What changes for teen users on Discord?

Teen users will have message requests from non-friends moved to a separate inbox for review. They will also receive alerts about friend requests from mutual friends or people they do not share a small server with.

Discord said “sensitive” images will be blurred or blocked for teen users. Age-restricted servers, channels, and bot commands will no longer be accessible to them. A teen’s complete profile details will be visible only to friends and people in the small servers they belong to.

Adults can appeal incorrect age classifications

Discord estimates that more than 90% of its users will not be asked to verify their age. However, adults who are incorrectly placed in the 13-to-17 age group or categorized as unconfirmed will have several options to prove they are old enough to access age-restricted content.