{"id":1770777,"date":"2026-02-14T18:42:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T15:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1770777"},"modified":"2026-02-14T18:42:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T15:42:30","slug":"discord-advises-uk-users-that-they-may-be-part-of-an-experiment-where-instead-of-their-age-verification-data-never-leaving-their-phone-it-will-now-actually-leave-their-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1770777","title":{"rendered":"Discord advises UK users that they &#8220;may be part of an experiment&#8221; where instead of their age verification data never leaving their phone, it will now actually leave their phone"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Discord advises UK users that they &#8220;may be part of an experiment&#8221; where instead of their age verification data never leaving their phone, it will now actually leave their phone<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">&#8220;All details are blurred except your photo and date of birth, so only what&#8217;s truly needed for age verification is used.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Screenshot-2026-02-14-at-18.32.02.png?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Notice reading: &quot;Important: If you're located in the UK, you may be part of an experiment where your information will be processed by an age-assurance vendor, Persona. The information you submit will be temporarily stored for up to 7 days, then deleted. For ID document verification, all details are blurred except your photo and date of birth, so only what's truly needed for age verification is used.&quot;\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"Screenshot-2026-02-14-at-18.32.02.png\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"319\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Discord \/ Eurogamer<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Vikki Blake avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/1533038852.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Vikki Blake avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"1533038852.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/vikki-blake\">Vikki Blake<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-02-14T18:42:30+00:00\">Feb. 14, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/discord-advises-uk-users-that-they-may-be-part-of-an-experiment-where-instead-of-their-age-verification-data-never-leaving-their-phone-it-will-now-actually-leave-their-phone?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          7 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>UK Discord users have raised concerns about the company&#8217;s new age verification processes, claiming that while it had originally promised that &#8220;video selfies submitted for facial age estimation will never leave a user&#8217;s device&#8221;, a change in service provider allegedly now suggests otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>Discord announced its new &#8220;teen-by-default&#8221; approach to its platform last week, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/discord-mandatory-age-verification-sensitive-content-teen-by-default\">revealing that age-verification will be a mandatory requirement for all users around the globe<\/a> in order to access certain settings, channels, and &#8220;sensitive content.&#8221; Beginning in early March, Discord will implement a &#8220;phased global rollout&#8221; of a new update designed to give all new and existing users worldwide a &#8220;teen-appropriate experience&#8221; by default. Once live, users will be required to undergo age verification &#8211; either via facial age estimation or by submitting a form of identification &#8211; in order to access certain features.<\/p>\n<p>Building on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/uk-online-safety-act-explainer\">changes previously rolled out<\/a> to users in Australia and the UK, without age verification, users will be unable to bypass sensitive content filters, and will not be able to access age-gated channels, servers, or app commands, speak on Discord server stages, or access messages sent to their inbox from people they do not know.<\/p>\n<p>Originally, Discord said that video selfies submitted for facial age estimation will never leave a user&#8217;s device, and insists all identification documents submitted to its vendor partners for processing will be &#8220;deleted quickly&#8221; \u2013 &#8220;in most cases, immediately after age confirmation&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A notice from Discord about UK differences in its age-assurance process\" height=\"564\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Screenshot-2026-02-14-at-18.24.59.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 3.0319148936170213\" width=\"1710\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"A notice from Discord about UK differences in its age-assurance process\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"Screenshot-2026-02-14-at-18.24.59.png\" height=\"564\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 3.0319148936170213\" width=\"1710\"><figcaption>Discord&#8217;s FAQ | <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Discord<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Now, however, users in the UK have noted that Discord&#8217;s FAQ advises British users that they <a href=\"https:\/\/support.discord.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/30326565624343-How-to-Complete-Age-Assurance-on-Discord\">&#8220;may be part of an experiment&#8221;<\/a> where your information will be processed by age-assurance vendor, Persona. Instead of your selfie &#8220;never leaving your device&#8221;, the information you submit will now &#8220;be temporarily stored for up to 7 days, then deleted&#8221;. It does, however, insist that &#8220;all details are blurred except your photo and date of birth, so only what&#8217;s truly needed for age verification is used&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/software\/platforms\/oh-good-discords-age-verification-rollout-has-ties-to-palantir-co-founder-and-panopticon-architect-peter-thiel\/\">PC Gamer<\/a> posits, we&#8217;re not entirely sure why Discord deviated from its initial plan, but suggested it may be due to the fact that users have worked out how to cheese its other age verification partner, k-ID. But while explicit assurances are given that Discord and k-ID &#8220;do not permanently store personal identity documents or your video selfies, and the video selfie used for facial age estimation never leaves your device,&#8221; no such assurances can be given to users funnelled into the Persona &#8220;experiment&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt='\"Discord and k-ID do not permanently store personal identity documents or your video selfies. Images of your identity documents and ID match selfies are deleted directly after your age group is confirmed, and the video selfie used for facial age estimation never leaves your device.\"' height=\"386\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Screenshot-2026-02-14-at-18.26.10.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 4.341968911917099\" width=\"1676\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt='\"Discord and k-ID do not permanently store personal identity documents or your video selfies. Images of your identity documents and ID match selfies are deleted directly after your age group is confirmed, and the video selfie used for facial age estimation never leaves your device.\"' data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"Screenshot-2026-02-14-at-18.26.10.png\" height=\"386\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 4.341968911917099\" width=\"1676\"><figcaption>Discord&#8217;s FAQ | <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Discord<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That&#8217;s not all, though; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/technology\/comments\/1r49346\/oh_good_discords_age_verification_rollout_has\/\">some users are also unhappy<\/a> not just with the age verification process itself and the security of their data, but also the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2021-09-15\/founders-fund-values-identity-startup-persona-at-1-5-billion\">people bankrolling Persona<\/a>, which includes the investment fund of Palantir founder, Peter Thiel. Palantir is the data and surveillance company currently used by US federal agencies, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.404media.co\/elite-the-palantir-app-ice-uses-to-find-neighborhoods-to-raid\/\">including ICE<\/a>, and Thiel&#8217;s name appears 2000+ times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/02\/09\/tech-leaders-epstein-records-silicon-valley-sergey-brin-thiel-sinofsky-reid-hoffman-musk-gates.html\">in the Epstein files<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Eurogamer has reached out to Discord for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Back in October, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/discord-customer-service-system-breached-by-authorised-party-gaining-access-to-a-small-number-of-government-id-images\">a third-party customer service system used by Discord&#8217;s support teams was hacked<\/a>, compromising some user personal data, including government IDs.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>UK Discord users have raised concerns about the company&#8217;s new age verification processes, claiming that while it had originally promised that &#8220;video selfies submitted for facial age estimation will never leave a user&#8217;s device&#8221;, a change in service provider allegedly now suggests otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>Discord announced its new &#8220;teen-by-default&#8221; approach to its platform last week, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/discord-mandatory-age-verification-sensitive-content-teen-by-default\">revealing that age-verification will be a mandatory requirement for all users around the globe<\/a> in order to access certain settings, channels, and &#8220;sensitive content.&#8221; Beginning in early March, Discord will implement a &#8220;phased global rollout&#8221; of a new update designed to give all new and existing users worldwide a &#8220;teen-appropriate experience&#8221; by default. Once live, users will be required to undergo age verification &#8211; either via facial age estimation or by submitting a form of identification &#8211; in order to access certain features.<\/p>\n<p>Building on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/uk-online-safety-act-explainer\">changes previously rolled out<\/a> to users in Australia and the UK, without age verification, users will be unable to bypass sensitive content filters, and will not be able to access age-gated channels, servers, or app commands, speak on Discord server stages, or access messages sent to their inbox from people they do not know.<\/p>\n<p>Originally, Discord said that video selfies submitted for facial age estimation will never leave a user&#8217;s device, and insists all identification documents submitted to its vendor partners for processing will be &#8220;deleted quickly&#8221; \u2013 &#8220;in most cases, immediately after age confirmation&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A notice from Discord about UK differences in its age-assurance process\" height=\"564\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Screenshot-2026-02-14-at-18.24.59.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 3.0319148936170213\" width=\"1710\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"A notice from Discord about UK differences in its age-assurance process\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"Screenshot-2026-02-14-at-18.24.59.png\" height=\"564\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 3.0319148936170213\" width=\"1710\"><figcaption>Discord&#8217;s FAQ | <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Discord<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Now, however, users in the UK have noted that Discord&#8217;s FAQ advises British users that they <a href=\"https:\/\/support.discord.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/30326565624343-How-to-Complete-Age-Assurance-on-Discord\">&#8220;may be part of an experiment&#8221;<\/a> where your information will be processed by age-assurance vendor, Persona. Instead of your selfie &#8220;never leaving your device&#8221;, the information you submit will now &#8220;be temporarily stored for up to 7 days, then deleted&#8221;. It does, however, insist that &#8220;all details are blurred except your photo and date of birth, so only what&#8217;s truly needed for age verification is used&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/software\/platforms\/oh-good-discords-age-verification-rollout-has-ties-to-palantir-co-founder-and-panopticon-architect-peter-thiel\/\">PC Gamer<\/a> posits, we&#8217;re not entirely sure why Discord deviated from its initial plan, but suggested it may be due to the fact that users have worked out how to cheese its other age verification partner, k-ID. But while explicit assurances are given that Discord and k-ID &#8220;do not permanently store personal identity documents or your video selfies, and the video selfie used for facial age estimation never leaves your device,&#8221; no such assurances can be given to users funnelled into the Persona &#8220;experiment&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt='\"Discord and k-ID do not permanently store personal identity documents or your video selfies. Images of your identity documents and ID match selfies are deleted directly after your age group is confirmed, and the video selfie used for facial age estimation never leaves your device.\"' height=\"386\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Screenshot-2026-02-14-at-18.26.10.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 4.341968911917099\" width=\"1676\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt='\"Discord and k-ID do not permanently store personal identity documents or your video selfies. Images of your identity documents and ID match selfies are deleted directly after your age group is confirmed, and the video selfie used for facial age estimation never leaves your device.\"' data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"Screenshot-2026-02-14-at-18.26.10.png\" height=\"386\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 4.341968911917099\" width=\"1676\"><figcaption>Discord&#8217;s FAQ | <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Discord<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That&#8217;s not all, though; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/technology\/comments\/1r49346\/oh_good_discords_age_verification_rollout_has\/\">some users are also unhappy<\/a> not just with the age verification process itself and the security of their data, but also the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2021-09-15\/founders-fund-values-identity-startup-persona-at-1-5-billion\">people bankrolling Persona<\/a>, which includes the investment fund of Palantir founder, Peter Thiel. Palantir is the data and surveillance company currently used by US federal agencies, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.404media.co\/elite-the-palantir-app-ice-uses-to-find-neighborhoods-to-raid\/\">including ICE<\/a>, and Thiel&#8217;s name appears 2000+ times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/02\/09\/tech-leaders-epstein-records-silicon-valley-sergey-brin-thiel-sinofsky-reid-hoffman-musk-gates.html\">in the Epstein files<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Eurogamer has reached out to Discord for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Back in October, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/discord-customer-service-system-breached-by-authorised-party-gaining-access-to-a-small-number-of-government-id-images\">a third-party customer service system used by Discord&#8217;s support teams was hacked<\/a>, compromising some user personal data, including government IDs.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Discord advises UK users that they &#8220;may be part of an experiment&#8221; where instead of their age verification data never leaving their phone, it will now actually leave their phone &#8220;All details are blurred except your photo and date of birth, so only what&#8217;s truly needed for age verification is used.&#8221; Image credit: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1770777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1770777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1770777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1770777\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1770777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1770777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1770777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}