Discord has started rolling out its age verification system again after delaying an earlier attempt, but the process has already run into several problems. The new system is designed to separate users into adult and teen accounts, with younger users facing additional restrictions across the platform.

Discord says it can automatically estimate the age group of most users based on signals such as account age, activity, the communities they are part of, and connected games. The company says private messages and calls are not used as part of the process, and it expects more than 90% of users to be placed into the correct age group without having to manually verify themselves.

For users who are placed into the wrong category, Discord now offers more verification options than it did earlier this year. Alongside facial age estimation and ID scans, some users can verify their age through a credit card check, AgeKey, their age range from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, and, in some regions, an ID stored in Google Wallet.

Hiccups in the new Discord age assurance system

The new system, however, has not gone smoothly for everyone. Some users have reportedly been placed into the wrong age group, while others were not properly categorized at all. In some cases, users also found that they were verified as adults on one device but appeared as unconfirmed on another platform, creating problems when moving between desktop and mobile.

Discord has acknowledged that bugs are affecting the rollout and says it has already fixed some of them while continuing to work on others. However, its response to the situation caused additional backlash after the company posted a seemingly sarcastic message about launching an “extremely popular age assurance update” that everyone had supposedly been looking forward to.

The joke did not go down too well with some users already dealing with verification problems. Discord later followed up with a more serious response explaining that fixes were being deployed.

That said, teen accounts will have several additional restrictions once the system is working as intended. Messages from people who are not friends can be separated for review, users can receive extra warnings when accepting requests from people without mutual connections, and age-restricted channels and bot commands will remain unavailable. Teen profiles will also have more limited visibility.

About the Author

Abdul Haddi

Abdul is a tech writer and Editor for PC Guide, specializing in all things tech, gaming, and hardware.