Discord users must complete face or ID scan this month, or get restricted

Discord users must complete a face or government ID scan by the end of this month or else face restrictions on the content they can see, the company announced this week.

The instant messaging and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) app announced Monday (9 February) that it plans to roll out new “teen-by-default settings” at the beginning of March 2026.

The new security update will set all user accounts to “teen-appropriate” and requires that they complete age verification tests to see certain types of content.

Discord first implemented its age verification tools in July 2025 in response to the amendments made to the UK’s Online Safety Act, which requires service providers hosting user-generated content to implement age checks.

The implemented safety features require that users allow Discord’s third-party “age assurance” software to record a video of their face and generate an age estimate, or provide a picture of a government-issued ID, as well as a selfie matching the ID photo.

Users who cannot complete the age verification test will be unable to see content that Discord’s algorithms detect as graphic or sensitive, will receive warnings over friend requests, and will be prevented from speaking in Discord’s “stage channels”.

Public servers will also be affected, with many being designated as “age-restricted” depending on the kind of content posted there. Teen-appropriate users will be unable to access these servers.

Savannah Badalich, Discord’s global head of product policy, told The Verge that the majority of adult users won’t need to complete the test and, instead, will be fast-tracked through account information such as “account tenure, device and activity data, and aggregated, high-level patterns across Discord communities”.

ID-photos leak has Discord users concerned

Discord has faced significant criticism from users who argue the move poses a major privacy risk depending on how third-party apps store age-verification data.

In October 2025, over 70,000 photos of official government IDs were leaked after a firm which operated Discord’s age-verification system was hacked.

In a statement at the time, the company said it was working closely with law enforcement to investigate the matter, and had emailed users affected.

The move comes amid a wave of similar steps from internet service providers (ISPs), such as payment processors or social media operators.

Most infamous was payment processors Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe forcing video marketplaces Steam and Itch.io to delist thousands of ‘Not Safe for Work’ (NSFW) video games following pressure from anti-porn lobbyists.

The trio of companies threatened to cease allowing users to process purchases on the sites unless they respectively removed content considered graphic or sexual.

Top video game modding site Nexus Mods was also forced to put its NSFW content behind age checks in response to the UK government’s amendments.

Share your story! Do you have an important, exciting or uplifting story to tell? Email us at [email protected]