No face, no access

Discord said Monday it will roll out stronger safety protections for teenage users worldwide, including facial recognition and age verification, as social media platforms face growing pressure over child safety.

Starting in early March, teen-friendly settings will become the default on Discord. Adult users will need to verify their age to loosen safeguards such as content filters and restrictions on direct messaging.

The San Francisco-based platform said it will use facial age estimation and identity verification through third-party vendors to determine users’ ages. Background tracking tools will also help assess age without requiring verification in all cases.

“Nowhere is our safety work more important than when it comes to teen users,” said Savannah Badalich, Discord’s head of product policy.

Discord said privacy protections are built in, noting that video selfies used for age estimation remain on users’ devices and identity documents are quickly deleted. The measures were previously tested in Britain and Australia.

The move follows similar steps by other platforms under scrutiny over child safety. Roblox began requiring facial age checks for chat access earlier this year, while Meta and TikTok have introduced tighter restrictions for users under 18.

The industry shift comes as more governments push age-based social media regulation and as lawsuits over alleged harm to minors move through courts in the United States.