By bizn_fun 
From March, all new and existing Discord users worldwide will be placed into a “teen-by-default” experience.
The settings, which have been in place for users in Australia and UK since 2025, mean people cannot access sensitive content or age-restricted servers and channels unless they are verified as an adult.
Discord will initially attempt to identify adult users with information it already has about their platform activity.
Users it cannot determine are adults will have to complete a facial scan or provide ID to access the full platform.
Discord says facial scans never leave the user’s device and IDs are only used to check a person’s age, then deleted.
Savannah Badalich, the platform’s head of product policy, has said the new default restrictions build on existing measures “giving teens strong protections while allowing verified adults flexibility”.
But Dr Peter Macaulay, senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Derby, told the BBC backlash to Discord’s new measures shows the challenge for tech firms in deploying child safety tools while preserving the trust of their communities.
“Moving forward, age verification measures that verify age without retaining unnecessary personal identity information, and are transparent about data handling, are key,” he said.
Prof Carissa Véliz of the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford University said trusting a firm to keep its word about how it uses sensitive data was another challenge.
“Companies have broken their word before, facing little to no consequences,” she said.
The streamers who spoke to the BBC say something must be done to protect children on Discord – but it shouldn’t be at the cost of other users’ sensitive information.
“I just want to be able to make my content,” Alastair said.
“I want to interact with my community, and know that whatever platform they’re talking on, they’re going to be safe.”
Additional reporting by Emma Calder