{"id":2977,"date":"2026-02-25T22:55:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T04:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/?p=2977"},"modified":"2026-02-25T22:55:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T04:55:28","slug":"discord-to-implement-age-verification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2026\/02\/25\/discord-to-implement-age-verification\/","title":{"rendered":"Discord To Implement Age Verification"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Photo by: Jasmine Mills)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

How much personal information is too much to entrust to the internet? Your phone number? Your address? Your credit card number? What about your actual face? Digital turmoil recently ensued over this debate when Discord<\/a> announced its global ID verification update<\/a> that will go into effect in March.<\/p>\n

In an effort to improve safety for underage users, Discord is requiring users to verify their age with either a photo of their government ID or a 3D facial scan. If a user opts out of the requirement, their account may be placed in a \u201cteen-by-default\u201d setting, limiting their interactions across the app. This update has caused notable concern online. Many users are worried about privacy infringement, data collection and security breaches.<\/p>\n

Dr. Daniel Long, an IT professor at JCCC and Discord user himself, has his own misgivings about the update.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe risk is that if somebody records your facial ID, it can be used for other purposes,\u201d Long said. \u201cThey can use your ID to maybe get credit in your name, or to do other things to your accounts\u2026 There’s so many extremes that you can do if you’ve got somebody’s digital ID.\u201d<\/p>\n

A glaring issue for many users is Discord\u2019s security track record. Last year, over 70,000 accounts<\/a> were compromised due to a data breach. Discord has attempted to calm fears by stating that the breach was caused by a third-party interface that they have since cut ties with. However, many users are pointing out that the new ID verification and facial recognition scan is also controlled by a third party. Discord states that this interface does not collect data and that a user\u2019s ID or facial scan will remain entirely on their device.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t believe that for a second,\u201d said JCCC student Russell Sutanto. \u201cI mean, we’ve been lied to before about, like, \u2018Hey, we’re not collecting any data whatsoever.\u2019 It’s like everyone knows that for a fact\u2013they’re collecting your data. So why should we believe that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Discord states that this update is an attempt to improve safety for underage users, preventing them from accessing mature content. This comes at a time when there is mounting concern from parents about who their child may be talking to or what content they may be viewing online.<\/p>\n

Belaye Turner, a JCCC student and long-time gamer, recognizes that there could be advantages to Discord\u2019s update.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think there should be some regulation. Of course, parents should always be as involved as possible when it comes to their kids,\u201d Turner said. \u201cBut at the same time, there’s so many ways to hide things from parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a chance users may not be required to upload their ID or provide a facial scan. In a press release, Discord stated they\u2019re using an AI model to scan a user\u2019s account history and estimate their probable age based on the longevity of their account and their interactions on the app. Once the model has determined the user\u2019s age, it will then automatically update their account to either \u201cteen-by-default\u201d or above 18. Still, this has done little to relieve people\u2019s concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always scary when you hear AI\u2019s involved,\u201d Turner said. \u201cI feel like there\u2019s a lot of danger to using AI for stuff, especially giving it your whole face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of ethics, Discord users should be informed of the risks they may incur by uploading their ID or facial image into the app. Some may decide to search for alternative options.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiscord is not the only game in town,\u201d Long said. \u201cPeople can vote with their actions, and if this is unacceptable to you, then don’t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How much personal information is too much to entrust to the internet? Your phone number? Your address? Your credit card number? What about your actual face? Digital turmoil recently ensued over this debate when Discord announced its global ID verification update that will go into effect in March.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[346],"class_list":["post-2977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Saul Epstein","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/sepstein\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-25-225420.jpg","coauthors":[{"link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/avah-robinett\/","display_name":"Avah Robinett"}],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Featured<\/a>","News<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Featured<\/span>","News<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 7 months ago","modified":"Updated 7 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on February 25, 2026","modified":"Updated on February 25, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on February 25, 2026 10:55 pm","modified":"Updated on February 25, 2026 10:55 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":346,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"avah-robinett","display_name":"Avah Robinett","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-25-225420.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2977"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2979,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2977\/revisions\/2979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2977"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}