Discord Co-Founder Admits Age Check Privacy Missteps, What’s Next

The team at Discord introduced some discord to our newsroom today. First, a company representative sent us a statement requiring us to update a previous article on its "Teen-By-Default" policy, and then it turned around and dropped a new announcement outlining changes to the policy and how the rollout is being delayed until later this year. The change looks to be less controversial, since while Discord will still demand select users verify their age in some way, facial age estimation or ID checks will only be required in territories where laws are in place that necessitate it. Otherwise, additional verification options are in development, including credit card verification. That piece of information is huge, since it means the large swath of Discord Nitro users, and others who have payment information on file, should already be flagged as adult users by Discord, and thus have little reason to concern themselves with ...