Submitted 2 weeks ago by criss_cross@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world
https://9to5google.com/2026/02/09/discord-age-restrictions-default-face-id-scans/
For ID scans, Discord says that documents “are deleted quickly.”
Just a few months ago they had a data leak which proved that they were indeed /not/ deleting documents and ID’s like they had been claiming.
Granted in that case it was mostly countries that force keeping that data but, I’m sick of companies lying and saying “lol yea we defo delete the data after”
I won’t even give hard drives when recycling a computer, I pull and smash myself. Last set of old drives I cut in half with bolt cutters.
That’s overkill, a couple of passes with dd and it’s irrecoverable.
This is not truly foolproof. Data can still be recovered from the spinning metal platter since it can theoretically be removed and put into a recovery device, even in a broken state.
Im addition to that, hard drives/ssd’s have sometimes have small flash memory chips, from which data can sometimes be recovered.
If you want it to actually be unrecoverable then you have to actually ensure all parts thay store data are truly deleted/wiped. Or just use encryption and throw away the key. Or just store them forever in a vault.
I think I’ve never disposed of one for this reason haha
We delete your data after we hand it off to our partners. Who definitely do not delete it.
My friend is an exec there. After reading this thread bugged him to buy my software that would protect this vulnerability. They confirmed data/file never leaves the user’s device. Sounds pretty safe.
You do know that it’s bullshit? Unless they’re incredibly incompetent they’re lying to you. If the data never leaves the client then all the checks are client-side, which means it’s relatively easy (compared to a server side check) to bypass those checks.
Well, looks like I’m leaving discord.
Maybe this bullshit will be the spark needed to move us all off Discord. It’s fine for voice-chat in games, don’t get me wrong, but I HATE how its replaced forums/wikis for so many games/mods/etc. Searching disparate Discord servers is like looking for a nonferrous straw-colored needle in a haystack.
Worse, it also makes it seem like developer support that is provided through Discord needs to be always on/always available since you can be pinged on Discord 24 hours a day. Why would you do that yourself, I don’t know. At least with forums you can choose to respond on your own time frame and people have less recourse to act like you should be around and available. It’s just asking for higher demand from the userbase since you’re chatting with them in real-time, they begin to expect real-time fast responses.
People are already looking to migrate to checks notes apps exactly like discord.
Agreed. As if every company just having a subreddit wasn’t bad enough.
I have just been using signal. Works fine.
Sure.
But what are you replacing it with ?
I tried Mumble and Teamspeak in the past and it’s pretty far from the same level of comfort.
Don’t take that the wrong way though, I’m all for supporting open alternatives, I’m just saying you have to think about the alternatives too.
I just saw something about Stoat.chat but a lot of people will have to bear the cost of self hosting these servers.
I know I will think carefully before slamming the door on discord.
Stoat looks promising, open source
The thing is do you even need to replace it?
Were you trying Teamspeak 6? The UI is different, but the functionality is on par I believe. Not open source, but at least you can self-host.
I did start a projects aiming to be a more decentralized/federated discord more akin to how IRC was back in the day. Time to revisit it, it seems.
I’ll swap to a shared calendar and any other voice chat software. Sure I can’t post on those but that’s why we also have a group chat for the different gaming groups I’m in.
Yeah its kinda terrible
I’m actually pretty happy that Discord is killing itself. Far too many people use it as an official platform for stuff like help forums.
Maybe lets go back to basic message boards that are actually searchable, etc.
Self-hosted options like Mumble also exist.
Self-hosted is a pain to get started with but as everything enshittifies if will only get more important.
As someone who doesn’t use the voice chat feature of Discord, I am always confused when people suggest things like Mumble as an alternative.
Self hosting also just isn’t possible for a fair number of people
I am of the opinion that any project that uses Discord for support, I just immediately ignore.
So mad at retro tink for this…
I’m still salty about The Cutting Room Floor requiring you to log into their Discord to create an account for their website.
Well there is that one nsfw forum that is VERY active. Said forum also provides a list of file hosters that have escaped enshittification.
Those guys pirate the shit out of Japanese games but official nsfw game developers sometimes go there to advertise.
I would barely be okay with a bank or government website asking for this information, I sure as shit would not give it to a fucking chat app.
If the pushback on social media doesn’t get Discord to drop these plans, then I’ll just have to delete the app.
Not caving to another app asking for Personally Identifiable Information (PII) only for this same data to be leaked months to years later.
Society will do everything to protect children aside from making better parents.
I am also leaving discord, I hated it but used it to connect to family members only. I will find other ways.
This is the same exact cycle I went through with social media, which I also left entirely. I stopped browsing a lot of sites I used to, I took most of my personal info off the internet, and ended a lot of subscriptions.
The internet lately is feeling more and more like making end-of-life plans.
Because parenting is hard and they don’t need the working masses distracted by kids, they need them slaving away forever.
The obvious solution is architecting society such that parents have more time to parent while making enough to pay the bills, rather than exporting parenting because they can’t afford to miss work due to parenting.
You start having enough of these conversations, and it all eventually points back to capitalism and taxing the rich.
But… But… They pinky promise it’s all secure, and that they won’t hold any of your data! You can’t trust a pinky promise? You monster!
Correct me if I’m wring but didn’t they got a massive leak for gov IDs last year? And they still pushing this be?! Hello?
You are not wrong.
One of many massive security leaks!
This surely is different, right? I’m sure they learned from last time
Anyone remember xFire? It was better 15 years ago than Discord ever was or will be.
…damn I miss that shit. They were litigated out of existence by a frivolous lawsuit from Yahoo. This is why we can’t have nice things.
Dude xFire was my jam.
I remember leaving xFire handles in my forum signatures with a random anime picture. Those were the days…
Xfire was all we ever needed.
I’ll gladly scan a face. I just happen to look exactly like Gale Dekarios
Dan Bongino!
My discord account is about 10 years old. Do they assume I created it as a 6 year old? Account age alone should be enough to verify I’m an adult with reasonable certainty.
They will have some kind of nebulously described “thing” that will monitor your browsing and chatting habits on discord and use that to decide your “implicit age” and I wish any of that was a joke or rumor.
They won’t just ask for your face and ID, they are also admitting that AI or something is going to be literally watching you at all times to “determine your age.”
Tell me again how we’re protecting kids? Where them Epstein prosecutions at? We save any kids yet? How about now?
Legally, they can’t be sure you didn’t sell the account, even if the email address is the same.
Not defending the policy here, it’s bullshit. But I’m simply pointing out that they have excuses to beat any logic you throw at them. Logic has nothing to do with it, so it can’t be beaten by logic either.
Selling accounts is against the TOS, surely they can’t be liable if that’s the case.
Well no, what if you have a Benjamin Button situation going on and will be too young to use Discord in a year or two?They gotta cover all their bases.
Naw, they assume they can tie all your conversations to some nexus realid and sell all your groups, likes, and dislikes for cash.
I hope there is a mass exodus from discord!
Where should we go? So many game dev communities are only on discord :(
They’ll offboard too, if they know what’s good for them.
Other people have been recommending other apps and websites like Stoat and Team Speak though I am sure that a new app will use this opportunity to go viral.
already making plans with my battle group t move to team speak 6, which is only an option because they now have screen sharing
Have you considered self hosting Matrix?
Additionally, Discord will implement its age inference model, a new system that runs in the background to help determine whether an account belongs to an adult
from the official release.
Sounds like creepy spyware
Yeah, no. Companies don’t get to scan my face or ID. You know they are selling your data.
This is great news! Discord shooting itself in the foot is a net positive for the whole world.
Wow I guess I get to finally dump Discord as my last proprietary chat app.
There are lots of self hosted alternatives like Mattermost, Mumble, and Matrix (decentralized).
There’s also the new Freenet River demo: freenet.org/quickstart/
Maybe I’ll make my own discord clone lol.
The general comment and title is simply untrue. They will require verification in cases of known adult or censored content, and in NSFW channels and servers. “Regular” content and spaces are untouched.
That said, I give it 6-10 months before it’s required for all users regardless of content access.
Whatever you do - don’t use telegram.
Discord was always an overhyped crap.
I’ll scan my ass.
Hope this will mass exodus into Matrix, like it happened with Twitter / X.
Stoat it is lol (stoat.chat)
I will use AI image generation, such as “Thispersondoesnotexist”. They can have an imaginary face for their data brokers.
And the garbage takes itself out, marvelous.
For those looking for an alternative, try stoat.chat or matrix
Nice. Now when someone tries to make me use discord, I’ll have a better excuse than “I hate it”
Remember to review bomb it immediately once this drops
It’s always been IRC with extra censorship.
They got scared when a full revolution started in discord channels.
Anyone have a FOSS with screen share / group service?
I guess I’m going to be a teenager again! If only it meant I could not go to work and spend 8 hours a day playing games.
Aielman15@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Let’s protect the children by scanning everyone’s face and ID and uploading them to a server that’ll get hacked five years from now.
okwhateverdude@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Five years? My, aren’t we optimistic.
Klear@quokk.au 2 weeks ago
Within 5 years, I’d say.
criss_cross@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Hell even 3 months ago.
discord.com/…/update-on-security-incident-involvi…
CosmoNova@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
That sounds more like the Discord I know.
7112@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Image
cheesybuddha@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
There’s a disturbing amount of people thinking of the children
Lyra_Lycan@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
And said data will never be used for fake CSAM or a library for the powerful to handpick their next victims
cheesybuddha@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I hear you, but what about: it actually will be used for those things?
WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
Don’t worry, it will only require us adults to give ID’s.
They will only make porn of us, everything is fine then!
Poppa_Mo@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
“Hacked” I’m convinced most of them are selling it, then claiming being hacked so they have plausible deniability when the alias/e-mail you ONLY used for discord starts getting spam+. Depending on if you linked your number, etc…
red_bull_of_juarez@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Disclaimer: I don’t like Discord and stopped using it years ago. And this announcement is just another step on the road to enshittification. It’s a shit corporation going public and becoming more shit in the process. Simply don’t use their shit.
However, it seems a bit rage-baity to claim that Discord will require age verification for all users. That simply doesn’t seem to be true. Age verification will be required for users who don’t feel the basic features are enough. Were I still dumb enough to use Discord, I don’t think I’d feel the need to go for the age verified account.