Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month https://www.theverge.com/tech/875309/discord-age-verification-global-roll-out
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@retrocoffee @verge Discord never was that Internet we used to know (open, standards-reliant, distributed, community-driven, easy access) but the exact opposite (company-owned, gated, monetized, centralized, enshittified) 🤫 I hope people will actually notice and make a choice, instead of just moving to a lookalike.
@elosha I was making reference to the collection ID part that many websites are shifting towards.
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@plantfeest
Zulip, which has impressive functionality, amazing docs (including those on self hosting), and has an amazing company behind it
@ppb1701 @verge -
Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month https://www.theverge.com/tech/875309/discord-age-verification-global-roll-out
@verge This is really funny to me for some reason.
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Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month https://www.theverge.com/tech/875309/discord-age-verification-global-roll-out
Fuck Discord.
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Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month https://www.theverge.com/tech/875309/discord-age-verification-global-roll-out
@verge what exactly is the problem with this feature? How I understand, discord ist still accessible without any ID check, only adult content will be locked behind a verification wall, which isn’t something bad I think. Other platforms like reddit should do so as well, just asking for age isn’t really a working strategy
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Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month https://www.theverge.com/tech/875309/discord-age-verification-global-roll-out
@verge so, which European program can replace it properly?
This is the time, many will be annoyed at the same time, so time for a big change.
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RE: https://mastodon.social/@verge/116041069446538092
@verge "Beginning in March, all accounts will have a ‘teen-appropriate experience by default.’"
Who determines what a "teen experience" is, and this is what folk have been saying when protesting this ridiculous age verification thing: it affects everybody and is a privacy issue for everyone, which is a bigger deal than the pretended "what about the children?" They will now be collecting data on children as they grow up.
1. Stoat — Open-Source Discord-Alternative
️ Stoat ist eine frei nutzbare, quelloffene Chat- und Sprachplattform, die bewusst als Alternative zu Discord entwickelt wurde.
• Text- und Voice-Chats, Server-Struktur ähnlich Discord
• Open-Source, keine Werbung, kein Tracking
• Betont Datenschutz und Community-Kontrolle
• Unterstützt Browser, Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS 
Vorteil: Kostenlos und ohne kommerzielle Interessen. -
@verge bye bye discord, what's the problem?
@netskaven @verge Stoat — Open-Source Discord-Alternative
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@netskaven The problem is all the people who will be like "well, that's annoying, but I guess we have to do it" and won't make any effort to move their communities.
(...and it's easier to say "well then, you don't need that community if they're going to be like that" than it is to actually do it, in many cases.)
@woozle @netskaven @verge Stoat — Open-Source Discord-Alternative
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Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month https://www.theverge.com/tech/875309/discord-age-verification-global-roll-out
@verge I'm not going to quit yet, but I for sure just canceled my Nitro which I've had for quite a while. If they think I'm not an adult, then I'm not going to pay them like I am.
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Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month https://www.theverge.com/tech/875309/discord-age-verification-global-roll-out
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Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month https://www.theverge.com/tech/875309/discord-age-verification-global-roll-out
@verge
All these corprite services are just going to keep doing it. STOP USING THEM.
We dont need them, #TakeTheInternetBack -
Even if they're now spoiled rotten by llms, search engines still work well enough to look for them. If your community is to move, it has to be a collective decision and they should do some work too.
@PandaCab Yes, ideally.
(Not sure what you mean about using search engines to "look for them" -- to which "them" are you referrring?)
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@verge what exactly is the problem with this feature? How I understand, discord ist still accessible without any ID check, only adult content will be locked behind a verification wall, which isn’t something bad I think. Other platforms like reddit should do so as well, just asking for age isn’t really a working strategy
@gerenuk @verge The problem is that you can never, ever trust an online platform to keep your data safe.
And speaking specifically about Discord, back in October 2025 their third-party age verification provider was hacked and 70,000 users had their ID "potentially leaked" (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jmzd972leo).
You can't really change the details on your ID, such as your social security number (US) / personal numeric code and other serialized information that is highly specific to YOU, which makes this info a lot more valuable to a hacker than a CC which can be cancelled and re-issued.
And that's just Discord.
AU10TIX, a platform used by X/Twitter, TikTok, Uber, LinkedIn, Fiverr, PayPal, based in Israel had been leaking drivers' licenses for over a year before it was discovered in 2024. The credentials were harvested in 2022 and posted to Telegram in 2023 (https://www.techdirt.com/2024/06/28/yet-another-id-verification-service-breached-exposing-private-info-collected-on-behalf-of-uber-tiktok-more/).
Sharing your ID should be the last thing you should ever do on the Internet.
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@netskaven @verge @woozle yeah many of my discord friends are like "Twitter sucks so I'm just going to quit social media entirely" rather than try something else, so I expect it will be "just going to quit discord, bye"
@kinsale42 aka "the water this baby is in is totally dirty now, so time to toss the whole thing..." yeah.
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@PandaCab Yes, ideally.
(Not sure what you mean about using search engines to "look for them" -- to which "them" are you referrring?)
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I have to disagree, then; I've been actively searching for alternatives for years now, and so far the only two remotely viable candidates have been the ones I mentioned (Revolt and Matrix), which both have obstacles to adoption.
(Not insurmountable; just not as easy as, say, switching from Slack to Discord was.)
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@gerenuk @verge The problem is that you can never, ever trust an online platform to keep your data safe.
And speaking specifically about Discord, back in October 2025 their third-party age verification provider was hacked and 70,000 users had their ID "potentially leaked" (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jmzd972leo).
You can't really change the details on your ID, such as your social security number (US) / personal numeric code and other serialized information that is highly specific to YOU, which makes this info a lot more valuable to a hacker than a CC which can be cancelled and re-issued.
And that's just Discord.
AU10TIX, a platform used by X/Twitter, TikTok, Uber, LinkedIn, Fiverr, PayPal, based in Israel had been leaking drivers' licenses for over a year before it was discovered in 2024. The credentials were harvested in 2022 and posted to Telegram in 2023 (https://www.techdirt.com/2024/06/28/yet-another-id-verification-service-breached-exposing-private-info-collected-on-behalf-of-uber-tiktok-more/).
Sharing your ID should be the last thing you should ever do on the Internet.
@gerenuk @verge "only adult content will be locked behind a verification wall, which isn’t something bad I think"
A noble idea, but the execution is abysmal, because lawmakers are lobbied by right-wing, conservative groups like the EPP (EU) and bi-partisan bills such as KOSA to basically implement a blunt tool, a sledgehammer, where only a hammer is needed. Everyone is looking for a magical solution to this that is unhackable, unbreachable, safe, secure, etc.
But the solution just isn't sending your ID to third-party for-profit companies around the world, which then at the some point end up in the hands of advertisers and hackers.
EDRi has a great article on the pitfalls and actual solutions that we can implement instead of this digital age verification bullshit: https://edri.org/our-work/age-verification-gains-traction-eu-risks-failing-to-address-the-root-causes-of-online-harm/
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I have to disagree, then; I've been actively searching for alternatives for years now, and so far the only two remotely viable candidates have been the ones I mentioned (Revolt and Matrix), which both have obstacles to adoption.
(Not insurmountable; just not as easy as, say, switching from Slack to Discord was.)
I found at least 4, with various degrees of similitudes with discord.
Also, I have to point out the very obvious: you won't be able to leave discord and get the same thing. I know it is silly to point out, but in my experience, it is hard to really internalise for many.
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Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month https://www.theverge.com/tech/875309/discord-age-verification-global-roll-out
@verge amazing. Hopefully this'll help kill the shitey thing off as people's go-to platform. Horrible place.
