Discord, the ever-popular and ever-relevant group chat app for gamers, friends, and everything under the sun put out a press release today that could have some major consequences for its users. According to the post, a “Teen-by-Default” protection setting will be enabled automatically for everyone starting in early March of this year. This will supposedly restrict the content and “spaces” minor individuals will be able to access–just in time for Safer Internet Day. Savannah Baldacci, the policy head at Discord, summarized the company’s ethos behind their decision to launch this update:
Rolling out teen-by-default settings globally builds on Discord’s existing safety architecture, giving teens strong protections while allowing verified adults flexibility. We design our products with teen safety principles at the core and will continue working with safety experts, policymakers, and Discord users to support meaningful, long term well-being for teens on the platform.
As mentioned in the quote, this update comes with a condition for those who want upgraded permissions. It seems like users who don’t want the teen restrictions may have to undergo several levels of digital scrutiny, including submitting a “video selfie,” sending proof of identity to a “vendor partner,” and being under the watch of a new “age inference model.” According to Discord, none of the identifying information users would submit to either them or their vendor partners would be secure–either being deleted or simply kept on the user’s device. The age inference model doesn’t seem like it will be optional, and looks to observe users’ behavior in order to sort them into age groups. And exactly what information this model gleans from users’ or how it does so is unclear in the press release. However, the inference model will supposedly prevent some users from needing to verify their age using the other, more direct means of identification listed above. If users decide to stick with the globally applied restrictions, then content deemed “sensitive” will be unable to be unblurred, DMs from strangers get moved to a separate inbox–the post does not mention if a teen-restricted user would ever be able to get access to these messages–and only age-verified users will be able to host the stage channel function.
This program was rolled out last year in the UK and Australia, but has only just now made its way to the rest of the world. In the United States, at least, this update comes in the wake of a series of online safety bills making their way through legislature, as well as a broader political conversation about the security of children. The bill’s proposals have raised concern about possible violations of constitutional rights, anonymity on the internet, and data privacy.