Summary: Discord is now testing a new age verification system that will require people to submit their ID to verify their age. This is a test taking place in Australia and the UK.

Right now, governmental entities are working around the clock to block children from being able to access certain content on the internet. While this is noble, it could make things harder for privacy-focused adults. Some sites require people to upload their IDs and a picture of their face just to use their services.

Well, another popular platform could go down that path. Discord, a platform that can play host to all types of content, could face some backlash for its recent test.

Discord could require age verification in the future

Several Discord users discovered something pretty shocking when they tried to access certain content. They found that the app required them to verify their age.

The app will do this through one of two methods. Firstly, Discord will ask for camera access to scan the user’s face. Otherwise, the user could upload a picture of their ID. Users will get the prompt to verify their age if they try to access sexually explicit material or change filters that unblur sexually explicit content.

Discord said that it is testing this feature out in the UK and Australia at the moment, so only a small number of people are seeing this. The company is doing this to comply with new laws in both regions to keep children from seeing inappropriate content. Both regions are cracking down on children’s access to pornographic material and social media.

At this point, we don’t know if Discord plans to roll this out to other regions. Since there’s a similar crackdown going on in the U.S., we’re sure that the company could expand stateside.

How Discord is handling the face scans

This whole thing raises so many red flags that you could sew them into a blanket. Discord does say that the facial scans are not stored by the company or any third-party vendors. All of the scans are done and processed on the phone, and they’re never sent to the cloud.

That sounds somewhat reassuring, but it’s tough to take that at face value after we’ve been lied to by countless companies in the past. There’s no telling if some sort of information is being surreptitiously stored on a server. Not to doubt Discord’s credibility, but there’s no way for the average Joe to know for sure.

What makes this worse is the fact that we live in an age when data leaks and hacks happen pretty much on a daily basis. Major companies are spilling gigabytes of sensitive data at an alarming rate, and it’s all being sold on the dark web.

Discord says that ID information is deleted immediately, but there’s no verifying that. All we can do is go on blind faith. We’ll just have to see how the public reacts to this. Either way, we know that Discord is going to face some backlash.