Discord is delaying its global age verification rollout after criticism from users who said the approach would not adequately protect their privacy, according to a blog post by the company’s chief technology officer and co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy. Vishnevskiy said the company had received “swift backlash” and acknowledged that it “missed the mark,” adding that he understood concerns that the effort could become “another big tech company finding new ways to collect your personal data.”
In the post, Vishnevskiy said Discord pushed the global expansion of the age verification system to the second half of 2026, while the company said it would continue to meet specific legal obligations it has for age verification of users. Discord also said it will make changes to the initial policy it laid out in early February before it expands globally.
The initial plan drew ire after Discord said it would start in March, using face scanning or asking users for an ID upload when it could not determine whether they were adults. Users pointed to a recent security breach involving a third-party provider that exposed government ID photos of up to 70,000 Discord users, and Discord faced renewed skepticism even as it described its revised approach.
Vishnevskiy addressed that prior incident directly, saying it contributed to users’ skepticism and emphasizing that Discord no longer works with that vendor. He said every vendor Discord works with undergoes a security and privacy review before integration, including contractual limits on data use and strict retention and deletion requirements. Vishnevskiy also wrote that information submitted for age verification is stored only for the minimum time necessary and is deleted immediately in most cases, and that if a vendor does not pass, Discord does not work with them.
Discord also described a different vendor that did not meet its standards for facial age estimation: Persona. Vishnevskiy said Discord ran a limited test with Persona in the United Kingdom in January and then distanced itself from the company after the relationship became the subject of online criticism. He said Discord was not able to meet its standard that facial age estimation “must be performed entirely on-device,” meaning biometric data would never leave a user’s phone.
Discord said it can proactively determine the ages of most users without using biometric scanning or message review. Vishnevskiy said the company does this through account-level signals, including how long the account has existed, whether there is a payment method on file, the types of servers a user is in, and general patterns of account activity. He emphasized that Discord does not read messages, analyze conversations or look at account content to estimate users’ ages.
For the remaining users whose ages Discord cannot determine, the company said it is working to offer more options beyond face scanning and requesting an ID. Vishnevskiy said Discord plans to “complete and expand” alternative options before rolling out the changed system more broadly.
The company also laid out what would happen to users who choose not to verify their age. Discord said those users will be able to keep their account, servers, friends list, direct messages and voice chat, but would not be able to access age-restricted content or change certain default safety settings designed to protect teens.
Finally, Discord said it will publish a detailed post explaining how its automatic age determination systems work, and that it will document every verification vendor and their practices on its website.