Discord is preparing to roll out the age verification worldwide, starting early March. All new and existing accounts will be placed in the "teen" age group by default. Teen accounts have several limitations and default settings that cannot be changed unless age-assured as adult.
- You will no longer be able to unblur (potentionally) sensitive media, nor edit the related settings responsible for this behavior.
- Message requests are always on for people Discord thinks you may not know, and you will not be able to edit the related settings responsible for this behavior.
- Access to age-restricted servers, channels and app commands is now enforced by your age group.
- Friend requests from users you may not know will be accompanied by warning prompts.
- You can not speak on stage channels.
Age verification is automated via k-ID. Age verification can be completed with just a selfie, and without sharing your ID, unless no confident estimation can be made.
↺ Update (Feb 24th, 2026): Teen-by-Default delayed
Discord has announced that its Teen-by-Default safety features are being delayed to the second half of 2026 following an overwhelmingly negative reception, citing that they failed to properly communicate what's changing and that many users walked away because they did not fully understand the changes. Where legally obligated, users will continue to be prompted to age verify.
Here's what changing before the global launch:
- More verification options (e.g credit card verification)
- Vendor transparency: all vendors and their practices will be documented on Discord's website, and will list who is who in the product. Additionally, Discord will not work with partners that do not offer facial age estimation entirely on-device.
- A new spoiler channel: Discord is introducing a dedicated spoiler channel option to use instead of age restricting channels for topics such as politics and heavier conversations, without it requiring users to age verify to access them.
- A technical blog: Discord will publish a detailed post explaining how their automatic age determination systems work, including the signal categories and privacy constraints.
- Age assurance data in transparency reports: data from age assurance will be included in transparency reports (e.g., how many were asked to verify, methods used, etc.)