What happens if you don't complete Discord's age verification

Discord will roll out "teen-by-default settings" worldwide in March 2026, requiring users to complete an age verification process—either a short face-scan video or a government-issued ID plus a selfie—to avoid new restrictions. The announcement has raised privacy and surveillance concerns among users asked to hand over sensitive identifying information.

Accounts that aren’t verified will be reclassified as teen and placed on a restricted set of defaults until verification is completed. Those limits affect both public servers and private DMs: graphic or explicit images will be permanently blurred; age-restricted channels, servers, and server commands will be blocked behind a black screen; messages from unknown users will be routed to a separate inbox unless you verify; friend requests from strangers will always trigger a warning; and speaking on stage channels will be disabled.

The verification options are either a video of your face used to generate an age estimate or a photo of a government ID plus a matching selfie.

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