LOS ANGELES—The senior leadership of Discord, the popular message platform and VOIP social network, announced earlier this week that age verification will be mandatory for all users starting in March 2026. According to a news statement, Discord has decided to implement "teen-by-default" settings globally across the platform.
The enhanced teen safety feature rollout is intended to create "a safer and more inclusive experience for users over the age of 13," the statement adds.
"As part of this update, all new and existing users worldwide will have a teen-appropriate experience by default, with updated communication settings, restricted access to age-gated spaces, and content filtering that preserves the privacy and meaningful connections that define Discord," the company noted.
“Nowhere is our safety work more important than when it comes to teen users, which is why we are announcing these updates in time for Safer Internet Day," said Savannah Badalich, Discord's head of product policy, referring to February 10, which is the "Safer Internet Day" awareness effort. "Rolling out teen-by-default settings globally builds on Discord’s existing safety architecture, giving teens strong protections while allowing verified adults flexibility."
Badalich added, "We design our products with teen safety principles at the core and will continue working with safety experts, policymakers, and Discord users to support meaningful, long-term wellbeing for teens on the platform."
Under the "teen-by-default" policy, users will be required to engage with age-verification processes for channels and servers that are "age-restricted." Some of these channels include the platforms managed by adult content creators, online sex workers, other sexually related content, sexual animation, and fan communities.
Note that Discord previously experienced a data breach involving one of its age-verification vendors. The data breach involving a third-party vendor at the time exposed age-verification documentation, including government-issued identification cards.
This breach resulted from errors by a customer experience vendor, 5CA, which outsources functions to customer service agents in countries like the Philippines. K-ID is Discord's primary age-verification vendor, but the service indicated it had no role in the data loss associated with its standard age-verification processes.
