Rule by surveillance? This huge social media app is begging angry users to comply with face scans

Messaging app Discord assured its users that they will not have to show their faces, unless they live in certain places.

In certain regions, users will still be subject to face scans or government ID submission.

'We'll give you options, designed to tell us only your age and never your identity.'

This comes after a data breach in October that saw at least 70,000 images of government-issued IDs stolen through one of Discord's third-party verification services. Proton reported that passports, driver's licenses, names, and IP addresses were stolen, along with user transcripts from conversations they had with support agents.

Still, in February 2025, Discord told users that their profiles would promptly be reverted to teen-level accounts by default, unless they submit to "facial age estimation or submit a form of identification to its vendor partners."

This means that without verification, users could not get message requests, join political chats, or unblur a wide variety of sensitive content.

After some intense backlash, though, Discord is now rolling back its requirements, but only for now.

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Photo by Thomas Fuller/NurPhoto via Getty Images

It seems obvious that Discord still has plans to roll out user verification eventually, but at this time it is leaning toward requiring less intrusive means. However, in some jurisdictions, giving up one's identity is still required by law.

"Where we have legal obligations, we will continue to meet them," the company wrote in a blog post.

In "the U.K., Australia, and Brazil, the law may require platforms to use approved methods like facial age estimation or ID checks," Discord continued, adding that it will be exploring alternative methods of verification in other jurisdictions.

"If you're among the less than 10% of users who do need to verify, we'll give you options, designed to tell us only your age and never your identity."

Simply put, Discord will still be enforcing age restrictions on the user experience.

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Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP via Getty Images

Discord floated different verification options like credit card verification, while putting limits on companies that use facial age estimation.

"Any partner offering facial age estimation must perform it entirely on-device. If they don't meet that bar, we won't work with them," the company said.

One company that "did not meet that bar" was Persona. Discord ran a "limited test" with the company customer verification service in the U.K. but has since decided not to move forward with it. It is unclear whether this relates to a recent report that showed Persona was not only performing almost 270 cross-reference checks on user face data, but the platform was allegedly set up for, and compliant with, parameters that allow for government access.

While Discord has promised ongoing transparency, it is still moving toward user data collection and will still be using facial scans to do so.

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