Discord has officially rolled out their formally known Teen-by-Default feature globally to all users. Following up on the backlash that Discord faced back when this was announced, there have been a few changes and additions to the feature.
- According to Discord, more than 90% of users won't be asked to verify their age. Discord's estimation model will determine what age group users are in based on various signals like Account age, types of servers and groups user hang out in, whether there is a payment profile, etc. and Discord assures that individual servers, messages, calls or content that users post will not be used to determine the age group.
- Users can check their Age group in User Settings > Account and it will not be displayed on profile or is public information. Regardless of the age group, users will still have access to core features like messaging, calling, joining servers and activities.
- Adult Age Group: Nothing changes
- Teen Age Group: Sensitive media is blurred/blocked with no way to unblock. Age-restricted servers/channels/commands are not available. Message Requests are enabled with no way to disable. Activity sharing/Profile details are limited to friends & small servers. Speaking in Stage channels is not allowed.
- Unconfirmed: Users face the same restriction as Teen Age group except for Activity sharing/Profile details restriction.
- Users in the Teen or Unconfirmed Age group can use the following methods to verify their age (methods vary based on region/device/other factors). Discord has assured that no data from any of the methods is stored or given to Discord other than the Age group.
- Credit Cards: Users can provide their credit card info to k-ID that verifies the authenticity and age group via Stripe. (⚠️ Stripe is legally required to hold the last 4 digits of the card and there may be a temporary charge placed which is then refunded within 14 business days)
- Apple App Store: Users can use apple app store to share their age group. The exact birthday is not shared.
- Google Play Store: Users can use google play store to share their age group. The exact birthday is not shared.
- Google Wallet: Users can use the ID pass that they may have already added to their Google Wallet. Details of the ID are not shared.
- AgeKey: Users can use the service which create a reusable age credential that can be used across other services and platforms (if applicable).
- ID scan/Video Selfie: Users can scan their Goverment ID or Face via k-ID's on-device models to estimate their age. Details of the ID/biometric data are not shared/stored.
- Discord has also shut down their manual age verification via support. Only the aforementioned methods will be used for age verification.