Discord's new age-checks are so buggy even confirmed adults are being blocked

Discord has rolled out a new method of age verification using algorithms to group users by age. But since its release, users have only encountered issues.

Discord has announced its new plans to implement age verification across its platform amid growing pressure from governments to protect children online.

Recently, Discord was banned in Brazil and taken to court by Texas over its lack of safeguards for minors.

The messaging platform popular among gamers is introducing an age-grouping system based on users' history, behavior, and server activity.

Much like age verification in the United Kingdom, Discord only prompts users when they encounter age-restricted spaces, content with sensitivity filters, or when they want to change specific settings.

“More than 90% of you won’t be asked to confirm your age,” Discord claims.

This means that the majority of users will have their age estimated by an algorithm. If Discord asks a user to verify their age, it will be because the algorithm has categorized them into a specific age group.

Discord's age check system is super buggy

The age check system was released a day after the release, and with it came immediate issues.

Confirmed adult users who have had their accounts for a decade and have been paying for Discord’s subscription service, Nitro, for years.

“Discord, I am 26 years old, and I am turning 27 in a week. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS,” said one user.

Discord admitted that its new age check system is buggy by infusing the statement with its own Gen Z brand of comedy.

“When you launch an extremely popular age assurance update that everyone on Discord was really looking forward to, and it has bugs,” said Discord sarcastically.

Sans sarcasm, Discord said that it is rolling out bug fixes as there are issues with age-restricted servers being unavailable for confirmed adults and inconsistent experiences across older app versions.

Discord later confirmed that the bugs blocking age-restricted servers for confirmed adults had been fixed and that continuity has been restored across different app versions.

While Discord users raged about the platform's use of “extremely popular” to describe the age assurance update, the platform’s social media staff seemed to give up.

“No, we are so fckin sarcastic,” the platform said via X.

What Discord is promising

While Discord acknowledges that this is a different approach to age verification than previous ones, the company claims to be adopting a user-centric approach.

Discord treats age as a signal rather than a basis for profiling users, so users will be grouped into specific age ranges. Once in those groups, Discord decides what those users can see.

The platform claims it doesn’t receive users’ biometric data, ID documents, or other identifying information, as that information is only accessible to Discord’s vendor K-ID.

K-ID is responsible for collecting data, and must “only collect the minimum information needed to confirm age and nothing more,” according to Discord.

Once that data has been collected, K-ID must permanently delete it after the age check is completed.

Users can choose various ways to confirm their age, including credit cards, app store payment methods, and the reusable age credential AgeKey.

K-ID is forbidden to repurpose age check data for the purpose of targeting advertising, building user profiles, or training AI models.

While this sounds promising, when big tech has offloaded responsibility onto third-party vendors, users have often borne the brunt of the consequences.

So, Discord claims it will limit user tracking (which it calls age signals) to collecting data that ensures an appropriate user experience based on age.

Discord also promises to process users’ data locally, wherever possible, and is “committed to offering…more than one method whenever possible.”

How is Discord handling user data?

The platform is also changing how it handles data to ensure that no data is breached.

In the past, Discord used a third party to manually review the data. Instead, it will now be handled by K-ID.

To further minimize the risk of data leaks, Discord once again confirms that the platform will only receive information about users’ age groups and nothing that can identify them.

Furthermore, users' age groups won’t be visible on their profiles, which is presumably a child protection technique to defend minors from malicious users.

Previous data leaks raise concerns

Discord began its age checks in 2025, following the introduction of online child protection policies in Australia and the UK.

The platform found itself in deep trouble with users in October of 2025 after discovering that users’ data had been breached in a third-party attack. This third-party provider is not the same one Discord is currently using.

Discord later updated users, saying that 70,000 people had been affected after a ransomware attack exposed their data. Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters claimed the breach.

“Of the accounts impacted globally, we have identified approximately 70,000 users that may have had government-ID photos exposed, which our vendor used to review age-related appeals,” Discord said.

Users are calling Discord’s bluff

Users were quick to jump on Discord, claiming that the platform had made these promises before and had fallen short.

“I don't care, you still promised to delete user data and didn't, and the only way we found out was having our data stolen from you,” said one user on X.

“If I had a nickel for every time Discord promised that our data would be deleted, and then a massive leak occurs...imma have 2 nickels,” said another user.

Other users accuse Discord of making false promises, saying that the platform “Couldn't even keep data safe the first time,” so why would users trust it now?

Many others promised to cancel their Nitro subscriptions on Discord if their data ever leaked.