{"id":64174,"date":"2026-02-14T19:00:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T19:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id"},"modified":"2026-02-14T20:09:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T20:09:34","slug":"discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id","title":{"rendered":"Discord to Require Face Scan or ID"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. <\/strong> <\/span>Discord will soon require users globally to verify their age with a face scan or by uploading a form of ID if they want to access adult content. The online chat service, which allows people to create and join groups based on their interests, says it has more than 200 million monthly users.<\/p>\n

Its new safety measures are designed to protect people by placing everyone into a teen-appropriate experience \u201cby default\u201d. Discord already makes some users in the UK and Australia verify their age to comply with online safety laws \u2013 but it will roll out age checks to users worldwide from early March.<\/p>\n

\u201cNowhere is our safety work more important than when it comes to teen users,\u201d said Discord policy head Savannah Badalich.<\/p>\n

\u201cRolling out teen-by-default settings globally builds on Discord\u2019s existing safety architecture, giving teens strong protections while allowing verified adults flexibility.<\/p>\n

\u201d<\/p>\n

The platform says the new default settings will restrict what people can see and how they can communicate, with only those who prove they are an adult able to access age-restricted communities and unblur material marked as sensitive.<\/p>\n

Users will also not be able to see direct messages sent to them from someone they do not know unless they complete Discord\u2019s age checks. \u201cThe sentiment behind creating a safer community for all social media users is a positive move,\u201d said Drew Benvie, head of social media consultancy Battenhall.<\/p>\n

But he told the BBC putting the new system into place could be \u201cfraught with issues\u201d considering the platform has millions of communities. \u201cDiscord could lose users if its implementation of age verification backfires, but it could equally attract more new users who will be drawn to its new standards for online safety by design,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The company said later on Monday it would use \u201cinference\u201d tools to identify users likely to be adults. \u201cFor most adults, age verification won\u2019t be required, as Discord\u2019s age inference model uses account information such as account tenure, device and activity data, and aggregated, high-level patterns across Discord communities,\u201d said Badalich.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiscord does not use private messages or any message content in this process.<\/p>\n

\u201d Safety concerns Users can either upload a photo of their ID to confirm their age or take a video selfie, where AI will be used to estimate their facial age.<\/p>\n

Discord said information used for age checks will not be stored by the platform or the verification company. It said face scans would not be collected, and ID uploads would be deleted after the verification is complete.<\/p>\n

Privacy campaigners have previously warned such methods could pose a risk to people\u2019s privacy. Discord faced criticism in October after official ID photos of around 70,000 users were potentially leaked after a firm which helped it verify ages was hacked.<\/p>\n

Its announcement comes after reports in early January said the company was looking to start selling its shares publicly. With its new measures \u2013 which include a teen advisory council \u2013 Discord is also echoing Meta\u2019s Facebook and Instagram, TikTok and Roblox.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile forced age verification and safe content by default could be a combination of changes that we see other social networks adopt, I expect they will all be watching how Discord\u2019s implementation lands with its users,\u201d Benvie said.<\/p>\n

Social platforms have rolled out a slew of measures to protect teens and children on their sites in recent years after facing increased pressure from lawmakers.<\/p>\n

Find more news and analyses on Mauritius<\/span> on the Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. Discord will soon require users globally to verify their age with a face scan or by uploading a form of ID if they want to access adult content. The online chat service, which allows people to create and join groups based on their interests, says it has more than 200 million monthly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":64173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[241],"class_list":["post-64174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-mauritius"],"yoast_head":"\nDiscord to Require Face Scan or ID - Mauritius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag"> Africa-Press - Mauritius. Discord will soon require use ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Discord to Require Face Scan or ID\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag"> Africa-Press - Mauritius. Discord will soon require use ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mauritius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-14T19:00:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-14T20:09:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2026\/02\/sm_1771099713.720989.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Discord to Require Face Scan or ID\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-14T19:00:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-14T20:09:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id\"},\"wordCount\":590,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2026\/02\/sm_1771099713.720989.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Mauritius\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id\",\"name\":\"Discord to Require Face Scan or ID - Mauritius\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2026\/02\/sm_1771099713.720989.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-14T19:00:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-14T20:09:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"-article-header-tag\\\"> Africa-Press - Mauritius. Discord will soon require use ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2026\/02\/sm_1771099713.720989.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2026\/02\/sm_1771099713.720989.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":576,\"caption\":\"Discord to Require Face Scan or ID\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Discord to Require Face Scan or ID\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/\",\"name\":\"Mauritius\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Discord to Require Face Scan or ID - Mauritius","description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Mauritius. Discord will soon require use ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Discord to Require Face Scan or ID","og_description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Mauritius. Discord will soon require use ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id","og_site_name":"Mauritius","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2026-02-14T19:00:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-14T20:09:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2026\/02\/sm_1771099713.720989.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Discord to Require Face Scan or ID","datePublished":"2026-02-14T19:00:57+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-14T20:09:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id"},"wordCount":590,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2026\/02\/sm_1771099713.720989.jpg","keywords":["Mauritius"],"articleSection":["all news","miscellaneous"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id","name":"Discord to Require Face Scan or ID - Mauritius","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2026\/02\/sm_1771099713.720989.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-14T19:00:57+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-14T20:09:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Mauritius. Discord will soon require use ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2026\/02\/sm_1771099713.720989.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2026\/02\/sm_1771099713.720989.jpg","width":1024,"height":576,"caption":"Discord to Require Face Scan or ID"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/discord-to-require-face-scan-or-id#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Discord to Require Face Scan or ID"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/","name":"Mauritius","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}