Discord has officially begun rolling out age-verification measures as of today. The company first announced age verification--and, subsequently, limits placed on accounts of those under 18--back in February of this year, but delayed a full implementation until just recently.

According to the official announcement blog post, this delay was done in order to include more age-assurance options, including several that do not rely on controversial biometric or digital ID systems, which have raised privacy concerns--especially after a well-publicized hack exposed tens of thousands of Discord users' personal IDs. Instead, they are using an algorithmic combination of factors to determine user age, including how long your account has existed, the servers you're in, the games you play, and other factors, detailed in a technical blog published alongside the announcement. (However, this model is not available in all territories, such as the UK and Austrialia--both of which have enacted strict social media bans and age verification laws.)

While Discord assures users that "More than 90% of you won’t be asked to confirm your age," the company also acknowledge that their model isn't flawless, and some accounts will need to verify their age to use a non-age-restricted Discord account. If users want to avoid uploading ID or video, they can use services like Apple Pay, Google Play, Google Wallet, or AgeKey, or enter a credit card number.

With any attempt at age verification comes controversy, however, and users of Discord were quick to notice that age verification was rolling out at the exact same time as sponsored ads for sports betting website FanDuel were appearing for American users.

Source link