Abstract:
Discord has launched a new age protection system in most countries except Australia and the United Kingdom, which will automatically estimate the age group of users based on multiple account signals. Users who are judged to be between 13 and 17 years old will enter the youth group, and some functions are restricted by default.
This is a new solution launched about seven months after Discord suspended its previous age verification measures. In February this year, the platform suspended its original plan due to users' concerns about data privacy. The previous solution required adult users to complete verification through video selfies or identification documents; subsequently, a data breach occurred at a third-party Discord vendor, affecting user information and scanned photo IDs.
Discord co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy said that the new model will take into account account registration time and usage history, user activity in channels and servers, as well as associated communities, servers and games. The system does not look at user messages, calls or other content, and its age estimation accuracy is said to be as accurate as biometric methods can achieve.
The platform estimates that under the new plan, about 90% of users will not need to actively confirm their age. Users who are judged to be over 18 years old will enter the adult group and their accounts will not change; in the youth group, sensitive content filtering and obfuscation will be enabled by default, and access to servers over 18 years old and some messaging functions will be restricted.
Users who cannot be automatically classified into age groups by the system will not be able to use some settings and functions before supplementing the information. The relevant verification entrance is located on the "Account Status" page of "User Settings"; adult users can also submit additional information here if they are mistakenly classified into the youth group.
In addition to face scanning and ID scanning, Discord also adds credit card, Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Google Wallet and AgeKey certificate confirmation methods this time. Vishnevskiy said that meeting age requirements should not mean everyone must submit ID or take a selfie, and the platform hopes to provide more options that do not rely on biometrics or sensitive personal data.
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