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[DryvBy]

Discord Launches Teen-by-Default Settings Globally

Discord is announcing enhanced teen safety features rolling out globally that reinforce its long-standing commitment to creating a safer and more inclusive experience for users over the age of 13.

discord.com

Or else you'll be stuck in Teen mode, whatever that means. Fun times!

 

[Skifi28]

I wasn't using it before, I will continue to happily not use it now as well.

 

[Madflavor]

Ok well I guess into the trash it goes. That is a hard no from me.

 

[Gaiff]

Default Safety Settings

Starting in early March, all new and existing Discord users globally will be assigned new default settings that support age-appropriate experiences while keeping privacy front and center:

• Content Filters: Discord users will need to be age-assured as adults in order to unblur sensitive content or turn off the setting.
• Age-gated Spaces – Only users who are age-assured as adults will be able to access age-restricted channels, servers, and app commands.
• Message Request Inbox: Direct messages from people a user may not know are routed to a separate inbox by default, and access to modify this setting is limited to age-assured adult users.
• Friend Request Alerts: People will receive warning prompts for friend requests from users they may not know.
• Stage Restrictions: Only age-assured adults may speak on stage in servers.

You need to provide IDs or face scans to be granted "adult" privileges. They insist the documents will be deleted immediately after verification. Fuck off lmao.

 

[The Cockatrice]

No surprise there, online privacy will soon fade away with most apps.

 

[FMN]

I was already starting to nope out of Discord when some servers started requiring accounts to be phone verified. ID verification to access glorified chatrooms is nuts.

 

[Xion_Stellar]

We don't have these backwater laws here in Illinois and nothing like that is on the table or being proposed here so this should be an illegal invasion of privacy here.

They insist the documents will be deleted immediately after verification. Fuck off Imao

Remember this?

ID photos of 70,000 users may have been leaked, Discord says

The platform says hackers targeted a firm that helped to verify the ages of its users.

www.bbc.com

I'm not giving anything the moment they ask for this I'm dropping the platform.

 

[BloodFree]

 

[[Sigma]]

I only used it for beta sign ups for the past couple of years now. I really don't like using Discord in general.

 

[T4keD0wN]

Time to finally try out death stranding i guess.

 

[The_hunter]

This is the end goal of all these teen privacy features, to identify all users on the internet. Discord probably makes money selling user information, I wouldn't identify myself with them.

I never use Discord.

 

[MayauMiao]

Never used Discord but now will just completely avoid it.

 

[CuteFaceJay]

My tin foil hat theory is that this type of enforcement is to do with the new world order change that's currently happening.

Linking individuals to a social credit system. They are worried with the current setup that declining birth rates will compound with how things are over the coming decades.

Changing the current system into something people hate so much that they MUST socialize in person and come off the internet in hopes birth rates of more wage slaves kicks into gear.

 

[videogamedude]

so devil's advocate... what if i just use the teen features to avoid this shit

what am i missing out on?

 

[Generic]

Time for Garry's Mod.

 

[Kilau]

Dox yourself for what exactly, porn theme chat rooms?

 

[LordCBH]

My tin foil hat theory is that this type of enforcement is to do with the new world order change that's currently happening.

Linking individuals to a social credit system. They are worried with the current setup that declining birth rates will compound with how things are over the coming decades.

Changing the current system into something people hate so much that they MUST socialize in person and come off the internet in hopes birth rates of more wage slaves kicks into gear.

I 100% expect most of the anonymity of the internet to just disappear over the next year, and I think it's absolute bullshit.

 

[Gubaldo]

nICE TRY

 

[Guilty_AI]

so devil's advocate... what if i just use the teen features to avoid this shit

what am i missing out on?

Servers classified as for adults and some automatic filter for images that blocks out (some) pornographic pics.

On a side note, this verification system is the easiest shit to bypass. So it's effectively useless while simultaneously putting the data of people who don't understand tech at risk.

 

[K' Dash]

never used it, now I never will.

 

[A.Romero]

My tin foil hat theory is that this type of enforcement is to do with the new world order change that's currently happening.

Linking individuals to a social credit system. They are worried with the current setup that declining birth rates will compound with how things are over the coming decades.

Changing the current system into something people hate so much that they MUST socialize in person and come off the internet in hopes birth rates of more wage slaves kicks into gear.

I'd guess governments could tap into more effective ways of incentivizing socializing if they cared, like economic incentives. They are worried for sure but I don't think most governments in the world can be too worried about the medium term when the present is just crumbling.

I don't use Discord that much but I think this movement puts them in the spot. I wonder where the pressure is coming from. It has to be huge so they cave in before many other services that are not taking steps towards this just yet.

 

[Hadoukens]

This is unfortunate. For some old games or fan made mods, Discords are the only place you can get help.
But I won't use their platform when this becomes a requirement.

Is there any competitor available?

 

[TheUsual]

Yeah, no damn way

 

[nemiroff]

I was a teen decades ago - I'm still not going to do any of that... Fuck em

 

[Zacfoldor]

No worries, I'm still on fucking vent.

 

[Guilty_AI]

My tin foil hat theory is that this type of enforcement is to do with the new world order change that's currently happening.

Linking individuals to a social credit system. They are worried with the current setup that declining birth rates will compound with how things are over the coming decades.

Changing the current system into something people hate so much that they MUST socialize in person and come off the internet in hopes birth rates of more wage slaves kicks into gear.

Nothing so complicated, it isn't even about ending online anonimity. If you follow the money you'll find it was literally some facial scan id company lobbying for this.

 

[Xion_Stellar]

Is there any competitor available?

Based on the last 30 minutes of my research Revolt/Stoat seems to be the one if you dont want to go old school with things like Team Speak

Stoat

Stoat is the chat app where you are the main character.

stoat.chat

A list (Some of them don't exist anymore)

 

[Generic]

Nothing so complicated, it isn't even about ending online anonimity. If you follow the money you'll find it was literally some facial scan id company lobbying for this.

Qrd?

 

[keefged4]

I do use discord occasional mainly for reno dx mods and such.

They can go fuck themselves if they think I'm handing over any personal information.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Qrd?

Yoti

 

[videogamedude]

is vent still free, or any copies of the old free server/client floating around?

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

christ, just when you think it can't get any worse

 

[Coloress_Kafka]

On-device processing: Video selfies for facial age estimation never leave a user's device.

Ehhh that really doesn't seem like a big thing to be worried about. That's the same way Apple handles Face ID.

Regardless I use Discord for NSFW purposes and I'd rather have age validation than them banning NSFW content.

 

[phant0m]

hard pass

shame, Discord as IRC 2.0 was a pretty fun run and had a lot of 'old school internet' vibes (no monetization outside nitro, ease of users creating their own places with their own rules, communities generally insulated from corporate interference)

 

[Hadoukens]

Based on the last 30 minutes of my research Revolt/Stoat seems to be the one if you dont want to go old school with things like Team Speak

Stoat

Stoat is the chat app where you are the main character.

stoat.chat

A list (Some of them don't exist anymore)

Can we use this as a thread to figure out which one is good privacy wise and feature wise?

I know Guilded is gone. That was was good while it lasted.

 

[Mikado]

Ehhh that really doesn't seem like a big thing to be worried about. That's the same way iPhones handle Face ID.

Their "Videos Never Leave Your Phone" line is a bit disingenuous; the working dataset for Image detection training isn't a bunch of MP4 files.

The transformed training data will of course be exported so you'll still be part of the dataset they're building. They'll have enough information to identify you quite accurately - on device or off - any time afterwards.

 

[Eesha]

Good, i hope it implodes whit this

was gettin tired of "You want to find somethin extra? Join our Discord tee hee" bullcrap.

 

[Topher]

Am I one of the few that can't stand having to use Discord?

 

[Draugoth]

Good thing that places like Gaf exists.

I've abandoned Social Media altogether.

 

[Sakura]

I'll just stay on teen mode then.

 

[Saber]

Can't wait for continuing to not using that shit.

 

[Xion_Stellar]

Ehhh that really doesn't seem like a big thing to be worried about. That's the same way Apple handles Face ID.

Screw that not even Google knows how I look (I don't take selfies or upload photos of myself nor does my family) so I'm not about to let some message app link my identity to my internet account.

Can we use this as a thread to figure out which one is good privacy wise and feature wise?

Here's the write up they have over on Reset Era on their Alternative Apps/Software Thread:

Stoat - Previously Revolt. I would consider it the best Discord alternative available right now. It lacks federation which I feel is a missed opportunity.
Spacebar - Free and open source, full stack reverse engineering and re-implementation of Discord. This is more acceptable to me as it's literally just meant to be self-hostable Discord.
Matrix - Same stuff as in the instant messaging section. It often gets mentioned but it's only a somewhat viable alternative. If you only use it for chat then the Discord bridge works really well but takes some set up. I recommend the in development Commet app if you want the Discord experience.
Commune - It's aiming to be the de-facto fediverse discord alternative. It builds on Matrix and combines with ActivityPub to get the best of both worlds. It's early in development but it's a very interesting idea.
Polyphony - An in development attempt at a federated Discord alternative using the in-house (I think) polyproto protocol. Compatible with Discord's API so it's also interoperable with Spacebar (and more importantly Discord itself I believe) so you can continue communicating with people who remain on those services.

 

[winjer]

Just in October 2025, Discord had a major leak, with hackers gaining access to IDs from thousands of people. And now these idiots want more people to give up their IDs and face. Fuck off, you incompetent twats.
And let's not forget the memory leak they can't fix, so they have to force Discord to restart every once in a while, so it doesn't crash.

Discord ID data breach: Why the world isn't ready for age verification laws | Proton

A huge ID photo breach at Discord shows that age verification laws should not be enforced until robust privacy protections are in place.

proton.me

On October 3, 2025, Discord reported that hackers had compromised one of its third-party customer service and support providers (5CA), and allegedly stole at least 70,000 images(new window) of government-issued IDs (such as passports or driver's licenses) used for age verification.

According to Discord, other sensitive information that was stolen includes:

• Names, Discord usernames, email addresses, and other contact details that users provided to receive support.
• Messages or conversation transcripts with support agents (for example, what users communicated with support teams).
• Limited billing and payment metadata, including payment method, purchase history, and the last four digits of credit cards.
• IP addresses associated with support interactions.
• "Limited corporate data" such as training materials or internal presentations stored in the support system.

It also says the following types of sensitive information were not accessed:

• Full credit card numbers and security codes (CCV)
• Messages or activity on Discord beyond what users may have discussed with customer support
• Passwords or authentication data

 

[keraj37]

I think I have nothing wise to say so I will pass commenting

 

[Topher]

Just in October 2025, Discord had a major leak, with hackers gaining access to IDs from thousands of people. And now these idiots want more people to give up their IDs and face. Fuck off, you incompetent twats.
And let's not forget the memory leak they can't fix, so they have to force Discord to restart every once in a while, so it doesn't crash.

Discord ID data breach: Why the world isn't ready for age verification laws | Proton

A huge ID photo breach at Discord shows that age verification laws should not be enforced until robust privacy protections are in place.

proton.me

People need to be more protective of their personal information and image especially in this day of AI deep fakes.

 

[mdkirby]

In principal this is fine (not the sending gov id part tho). The problem is because of many repeated cases of lies and abuse about how our data is handled by massive companies, nobody trusts these platforms as far as they can throw them.

 

[Wolzard]

I created an account not too long ago to access an online study community, but it was mostly for reading announcements. I interacted occasionally.

What's irritating is precisely the fact that many discussions have migrated from forums and IRC to Discord. I hope that with this, communities will migrate to other platforms, or return to forums, IRC, Matrix, etc.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Teen mode you say

 

[Hadoukens]

Screw that not even Google knows how I look like (I don't take selfies or upload photos of myself nor does my family) so I'm not about to let some message app link my identity to my internet account.


Here's the write up they have over on Reset Era on their Alternative Apps/Software Thread:

Stoat - Previously Revolt. I would consider it the best Discord alternative available right now. It lacks federation which I feel is a missed opportunity.
Spacebar - Free and open source, full stack reverse engineering and re-implementation of Discord. This is more acceptable to me as it's literally just meant to be self-hostable Discord.
Matrix - Same stuff as in the instant messaging section. It often gets mentioned but it's only a somewhat viable alternative. If you only use it for chat then the Discord bridge works really well but takes some set up. I recommend the in development Commet app if you want the Discord experience.
Commune - It's aiming to be the de-facto fediverse discord alternative. It builds on Matrix and combines with ActivityPub to get the best of both worlds. It's early in development but it's a very interesting idea.
Polyphony - An in development attempt at a federated Discord alternative using the in-house (I think) polyproto protocol. Compatible with Discord's API so it's also interoperable with Spacebar (and more importantly Discord itself I believe) so you can continue communicating with people who remain on those services.

Do we know which has the most usage as of this point? I'm sure that number will go up when Discord implements this. Though to what degree is the question!
Most of these apps are useless without people, unless of course you're using it for friends.

Unfortunate for my purposes, since I don't really have friends that play games often or anymore, but I guess we'll see how it all shakes out.

Also, what does federation mean for Stoat?

 

[David_Android]

I wasn't using it before, I will continue to happily not use it now as well.

i dont even see why anyone would need it? teamspeak is there since ages. discord app is a data grabber if installed on pc.(yes yes i know spare me please thats not the point)

discord is nothing more than a forum for devs with absolute power of what is allowed to talk about and if to many stir the pot, simply lock it down completely. its an enemy of the gamers also on free speech. imo. its unusable just like reddit.