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PayPalDiscord have announced that beginning in March, they're starting a global rollout of forced age verification to access all features of the platform.
Announced in an official blog post today, the Discord team noted that all accounts will end up as teens by default, with various restrictions in place, unless you go through manual age verification processes. It will be a phased global rollout, meaning it will be done in stages, so not everyone will be affected right away but it will begin in "early March". Worth noting at this point, that Discord announced a breach back in October 2025 but they said this was to do with a third-party, even so it did result in government ID photos being exposed.
How will you access all features? You'll need to submit to facial age estimation tech that scans you, or submit an official form of accepted ID with "more options coming in the future" and Discord will also be running an "age inference model, a new system that runs in the background to help determine whether an account belongs to an adult, without always requiring users to verify their age". You may end up being asked to use multiple methods to prove your age.
The Discord team highlighted their privacy protections for all this as:
- On-device processing: Video selfies for facial age estimation never leave a user’s device.
- Quick deletion: Identity documents submitted to our vendor partners are deleted quickly— in most cases, immediately after age confirmation.
- Straightforward verification: In most cases, users complete the process once and their Discord experience adapts to their verified age group. Users may be asked to use multiple methods only when more information is needed to assign an age group.
- Private status: A user’s age verification status cannot be seen by other users.
You'll be able to see your assigned age group in your "My Account" settings, and also have an option here to appeal by retrying the entire process.
When this all begins in March the new defaults will be in place for both new and old users that include:
- Content Filters: Discord users will need to be age-assured as adults in order to unblur sensitive content or turn off the setting.
- Age-gated Spaces – Only users who are age-assured as adults will be able to access age-restricted channels, servers, and app commands.
- Message Request Inbox: Direct messages from people a user may not know are routed to a separate inbox by default, and access to modify this setting is limited to age-assured adult users.
- Friend Request Alerts: People will receive warning prompts for friend requests from users they may not know.
- Stage Restrictions: Only age-assured adults may speak on stage in servers.
This was already launched last year for the UK and Australia, and now it's going global.
Why? Lots of different countries have begun pushing hard for strict age limits on various different forms of social media, all in the name of protecting children. No platform will be safe from all these laws and we've seen similar implemented elsewhere. The internet is just gradually becoming more locked down, as all these countries want more control over it.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
About the author - Liam Dawe
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
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Well, guys, maybe take a look at https://stoat.chat/. It is a great alternative for my usage of Discord.
I refuse to give sites my ID. What if it gets leaked? I'm not going to risk identity theft!
I refuse to give sites my ID. What if it gets leaked? I'm not going to risk identity theft!
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I'm left wondering when governments will come for Steam accounts. My account is over 18 years old, so maybe they'll implement the same system Nexus Mods did.
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Quoting: apocalyptechThat's most likely the case. The majority will go along with it and move on. The guy raging is in the minority.Quoting: JarmerOMG I love this so much because it will destroy discord. YESSSSSS I ragehate discord so much so anything that takes measures to destroy it is the best thing ever.Heh, while I don't hate Discord with the same fervor as you, I am certainly not a fan. Perhaps this'll end up encouraging more people to start adopting open platforms for online discussion, over corporate-controlled walled gardens! Though through the cynical eye of historical observation, I think it's more likely that the majority will just grumble about it and acquiesce anyway. Alas!
What I'm more worried about is how they are going to ruin discord usability from going public. I'm expecting them to begin shoving ads in anywhere they can into the client and possibly locking features behind a paywall to push people onto Nitro+. I'm expecting BetterDiscord will be C&D'd or blocked in the not-too-distant future. If that happens, then I'm out. It would become unusable for me.
I did the whole rise up and leave the platform in protest thing with Reddit when the blocking third-party apps thing happened and I ended up being one of the very few who actually did it and I regret it all the time.
Last edited by Tethys84 on 9 Feb 2026 at 5:15 pm UTC
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Quoting: GoEsrI'm left wondering when governments will come for Steam accounts. My account is over 18 years old, so maybe they'll implement the same system Nexus Mods did.I'm only 13yo in steam years. No sakura games for me. :-/
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Verify this, Discord etc.
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Johnologue 3 hours ago
Quoting: williamjcmIs Matrix that bad? That's where I was hoping to direct some friends.Quoting: ArehandoroMost people will prefer to accept their fate rather than looking to move to platforms like Mattermost or Element.I've heard a few horror stories about Mattermost, especially from bot developers, and Element is just a client for Matrix, a chat protocol that's so focused on security that they forgot to implement safety features (like banning/muting accounts and servers).
They're currently looking at Revolt (or, Stoat, as it's called now). I don't like them, but it's like 1/4th because their only socials are Bluesky/Reddit without a Mastodon, and I see Bluesky as emblematic of "marketable, but questionable big tech alternatives"...
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Quoting: GoEsrI'm left wondering when governments will come for Steam accounts. My account is over 18 years old, so maybe they'll implement the same system Nexus Mods did.Mine is 21 years old, so it can drink! lol
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Liam Dawe 3 hours ago
It doesn't really matter what alternatives there are - anything chat / social media will end up having to use these types of controls. Otherwise, they will end up getting blocked by various governments.
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Johnologue 3 hours ago
The problem is that Discord wasn't even vaguely private to begin with, and as the biggest general-audience tech platform they have no incentive to resist or even engage responsibly with (see the leaked IDs thing) these anti-privacy laws.
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What are the options for video calls and multi-participant screenshare (with audio) without usage limits and with support on Linux and Android? I checked out Element but the usage limit is a bit of a turn-off. TeamSpeak 6 looks interesting and seems to have the features mentioned, but wondering what others have to say :-)
Last edited by sonic2kk on 9 Feb 2026 at 5:34 pm UTC
Last edited by sonic2kk on 9 Feb 2026 at 5:34 pm UTC
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Quoting: BrokattI miss my Mumble server. Too bad there is no streaming support.you can always make a teamspeak server they are still around and the new teamspeak6 client has 1440p 60fps screen share streaming
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Kimyrielle 3 hours ago
Quoting: Liam DaweIt doesn't really matter what alternatives there are - anything chat / social media will end up having to use these types of controls. Otherwise, they will end up getting blocked by various governments.Yes. Politicians wanted to end anonymity on the internet since it became a thing, because they hate it when they can't control or see what their
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Quoting: Liam DaweIt doesn't really matter what alternatives there are - anything chat / social media will end up having to use these types of controls. Otherwise, they will end up getting blocked by various governments.Anything corporate and open to the public, sure, but an invite-only thing one hosts for their friends and no one else? They can certainly try... 😉
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Quoting: sonic2kkWhat are the options for video calls and multi-participant screenshare (with audio) without usage limits and with support on Linux and Android? I checked out Element but the usage limit is a bit of a turn-off. TeamSpeak 6 looks interesting and seems to have the features mentioned, but wondering what others have to say :-)I spun up a NextCloud instance locally for my wife and I, and while we just use it to de-Google things like sharing photos and the grocery list and such, I believe it's meant to be groupware that can do those things. It's just... not trivial to deploy and kind of overkill.
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Quoting: Liam DaweIt doesn't really matter what alternatives there are - anything chat / social media will end up having to use these types of controls. Otherwise, they will end up getting blocked by various governments.Is IRC blocked anywhere?
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Quoting: KimyrielleYes. Politicians wanted to end anonymity on the internet since it became a thing, because they hate it when they can't control or see what theirAs a friend of Blåhaj, even if my ID is 'right' (that was a headache and a half...), I certainly wouldn't to share it with *any* American corporation these days. It just sucks to feel like we're being pushed underground, but I guess I'm 'lucky' to have the stereotypical computer-touching neurospice.subjectscitizens do. The "there is too much crime on the internet" argument didn't work at first, so it's now "for the children!!!!"
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Quoting: sonic2kkWhat are the options for video calls and multi-participant screenshare (with audio) without usage limits and with support on Linux and Android? I checked out Element but the usage limit is a bit of a turn-off. TeamSpeak 6 looks interesting and seems to have the features mentioned, but wondering what others have to say :-)Element is just the frontend client of Matrix. I don't know if the usage limit is in Element or just the server you chose (Matrix is a federated platform, so anyone can create one kind of like old Battlefield servers) but you can check out the clients here:
https://matrix.org/ecosystem/clients/
And servers here:
https://servers.joinmatrix.org
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Quoting: WMan22This is gonna suck because there is no other platform that is as fully featured as discord is. Trust me, I really looked.Root App and Stoat Chat (formerly Revolt Chat) are the two that seem most comparable to me. somehow Root App isn't even listed on AlternativeTo (also who is handling UI/design over there, what a mess). Stoat seems like it's having growing pains. just heard of Root for the first time today and it looks like Discord for more seriously structured gaming communities, but I'm guessing you can ignore/avoid/disable those features for a very Discord-like experience. I'll be testing and sharing with my friends this week in case we decide to jump ship away from Discord.
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Liam Dawe 2 hours ago
Quoting: pbEven if it isn't yet, there's not much to stop governments forcing ISPs to block IRC servers. We've barely begun to see the effects of all this yet, it's going to expand.Quoting: Liam DaweIt doesn't really matter what alternatives there are - anything chat / social media will end up having to use these types of controls. Otherwise, they will end up getting blocked by various governments.Is IRC blocked anywhere?
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