Discord Sets Teen-By-Default Experience Worldwide With New Age Verification Rules

Discord has confirmed that it will roll out teen-by-default settings to all users worldwide beginning in early March, enforcing a standardized experience that limits access to sensitive content and certain communication tools unless an account is verified as adult. The update applies to both new and existing Discord accounts and establishes content filtering, messaging controls, and access restrictions as the platform baseline.

Discord detailed the change in a blog post published on February 9, outlining how the system will operate across regions and account types. Under the new rules, Discord users who want to access age-restricted channels, servers, or commands will need to complete an age-verification process. The same requirement applies to users who want to unblur sensitive media or receive direct messages from people they do not already know. Discord said these prompts will appear when users attempt to change default settings or enter restricted spaces, rather than forcing all users through verification at once.

Discord began testing age verification last year in the United Kingdom and Australia, following regulatory pressure on large platforms to limit underage exposure to adult content. During that rollout, some users discovered they could bypass the facial age estimation system by showing Death Stranding character images to the camera. Discord later closed that loophole and says the updated system now accounts for those attempts.

The global rollout arrives months after Discord disclosed a security breach involving a third-party vendor used for identity checks. In that incident, hackers accessed images of roughly 70,000 government IDs that users had submitted while contacting Discord’s Customer Support or Trust & Safety teams. The disclosure raised concerns about how identity data is handled during verification, and Discord now frames privacy controls as a core part of the new system.

To verify age, Discord users can either submit a government-issued ID to an external vendor partner or use Discord’s facial age estimation software. The company says facial estimation runs entirely on the user’s device, with no video selfie sent to Discord servers. For ID-based verification, Discord states that documents are deleted quickly, in most cases immediately after age confirmation. I see Discord placing those assurances prominently after last year’s breach, with repeated references to deletion timing and limited data handling.

Not all users will be asked to verify directly. Discord will also deploy an age inference model that evaluates account activity and usage patterns to estimate whether a user is likely an adult. If the system cannot determine an age group with confidence, it may prompt the user to complete one or more verification steps. Discord says this approach reduces unnecessary checks while still enforcing restrictions on sensitive features.

Savannah Badalich, Discord’s global head of product policy, said the company has stopped working with the vendor involved in the breach and emphasized the distinction between estimation and identification.

“We’re not doing biometric scanning facial recognition. We’re doing facial estimation. The ID is immediately deleted. We do not keep any information around like your name, the city that you live in, if you used a birth certificate or something else, any of that information.”

— Savannah Badalich

Discord states that once an account completes verification, no further checks should be required in the future. A user’s verification status remains private and is not visible to other users. After completing the process, users receive confirmation through a direct message from Discord’s official account. The assigned age group can be viewed in the My Account settings, where users can also appeal and retry verification if they believe the system assigned the wrong category.

The teen-by-default settings affect multiple parts of the Discord experience. Sensitive media remains blurred unless the account is verified as adult. Access to age-gated servers, channels, and app commands is restricted to verified adults. Direct messages from unknown users are routed to a separate message request inbox by default, and only adult accounts can change that behavior. Discord will also show warning prompts when users receive friend requests from people they may not know. In Stage channels, only age-assured adults will be allowed to speak.

Discord says the global rollout builds on the earlier UK and Australia deployments and delivers consistent rules across regions. The company has tied the announcement to Safer Internet Day and framed the update as part of a broader safety architecture rather than a single policy shift. I do note that the company is consolidating controls that were previously optional or region-specific into a single default configuration.

Alongside the safety changes, Discord announced the creation of a Teen Council made up of 10 to 12 users aged 13 to 17. The council will advise on product design, policies, and educational resources, with applications open until May 1, 2026. Discord says the group will provide direct feedback on how teens use the platform and what features affect their sense of safety.

The teen-by-default experience adds to Discord’s existing safety tools, including Family Center, Teen Safety Assist, Ignore, and account warning systems. With the March rollout, Discord is shifting from opt-in protections to enforced defaults, requiring adult users to verify their age before altering core settings.

Read also, Roblox has begun requiring age verification for any user who wants to access chat, starting in the United States and expanding globally. The move limits communication between minors and adults and applies to all users, making Roblox the first major platform to mandate age checks for chat access.