Large Grumbling Lycan 🐺

I've just been made aware of this. This is absolutely an insensitive joke. Earlier in the stream, we heard Ashley read out a username that contained the word “Nega” (short for negative) and all of us, including chat, freaked out because we misheard what was said. Once the misunderstanding was cleared, we poked fun at the absurdity of it. However, the "joke" relies on the fact that it's "teetering on racist" - which ultimately is no different than making a legitimate racist joke. I apologize for any harm this has caused, and for the fact that we ever thought it humorous to joke about in the first place. Racism is NEVER okay and we should always strive to be kind and lift each other up.

Hackers recently exposed parts of Discord's age verification system by discovering that the frontend code for their partner Persona was publicly accessible on the open internet. This revealed details on how facial age estimation and ID verification are integrated. “Persona's exposed code compares your selfie to watchlist photos using facial recognition, screens you against 14 categories of adverse media (from mentions of terrorism to espionage), and tags reports with codenames from active intelligence programs consisting of public-private partnerships.”

We’ve seen some questions about our age assurance update and we want to share more clarity. We know how important these changes are to our community. Here’s what we want you to know: ‣‣‣ 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗿 𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝗗 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱. ‣‣‣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗮𝗴𝗲. You need to be an adult to access age-restricted experiences such as age-restricted servers and channels or to modify certain safety settings. For the majority of adult users, we will be able to confirm your age group using information we already have. We use age prediction to determine, with high confidence, when a user is an adult. This allows many adults to access age-appropriate features without completing an explicit age check. When additional confirmation is required, we offer multiple privacy-forward options through trusted partners. ‣‣‣ 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲. 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁. ‣‣‣ 𝗜𝗗𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗱. ‣‣‣ 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗴𝗲 — 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗶𝘁. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁. We hope this helps to clarify some of your questions. This work is important because building a safer Discord requires a thoughtful approach alongside the communities who make Discord special. --------------- Frequently Asked Questions 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥? ‣‣‣ No. The vast majority of people can continue using Discord exactly as they do today, without ever being asked to confirm their age. In a minority of cases when additional confirmation is required, we offer multiple privacy-forward options through trusted partners. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦? ‣‣‣ You must be a confirmed adult to access age-restricted content and experiences such as age-restricted servers and channels or to modify certain safety settings. The majority of Discord users don’t access age restricted content and will never go through a facial age estimation flow or ID verification. In the minority of cases where we cannot confirm you as an adult and you need to access age-restricted areas and settings, then you will be asked to go through additional steps. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢? ‣‣‣ We only get your age from the ID verification process and an estimated age range from Facial Age Estimation. We use this information for safety purposes and to help us deliver age appropriate experiences on Discord. We will not use your age assurance information to target you with advertisements, and we don't sell your data. You can control how we use your data. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘈𝘨𝘦 𝘌𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 (”𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘪𝘦”) 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬? ‣‣‣ If you choose Facial Age Estimation, you’ll be prompted to record a short video selfie of your face. The Facial Age Estimation technology runs entirely on your device in real time when you are performing the verification. That means that facial scans never leave your device, and Discord and vendors never receive it. We only get your age group. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥? ‣‣‣ Discord’s age assurance experience was designed to respect user privacy. We are partnering with dedicated age assurance vendors who specialize in performing these verifications in a privacy-forward way. These vendors were not involved in the September 2025 data breach of our customer service agent. ‣‣‣ Our vendors perform these verifications in a way to minimize the data collected and stored. For FAE, the video selfie is processed on device and never stored. IDs are processed to get your age only and then deleted. Your identity is never associated with your Discord account. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘺 𝘐𝘋 𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦? ‣‣‣ Discord only gets your age. That’s it. Your identity is never associated with your account. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬? ‣‣‣ We leverage an advanced machine learning model developed at Discord to predict whether a user falls into a particular age group based on patterns of user behavior and several other signals associated with their account on Discord. We only use these signals to assign users to an age group when our confidence level is high; when it isn't, users go through our standard age assurance flow to confirm their age. We do not use your message content in the age estimation model. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬? ‣‣‣ Discord’s content safety filters are part of our broader Teen Safety Assist and safety-by-default approach. They help reduce exposure to certain categories of potentially sensitive image-based media, especially for teens. ‣‣‣ Mature Sexual Media Filter: Helps identify visual media that may contain sexually explicit or suggestive material involving adults ‣‣‣ Graphic Media Filter: Helps identify image-based media that may contain violent or potentially disturbing visual material ‣‣‣ These filters apply only to images and videos. They do not scan text messages, voice, or calls, and they are designed to support age-appropriate experiences while preserving private conversations. --------------- For more details check out our blog here: discord.com/safety/how-disco…

Discord will soon be expanding teen safety protections worldwide including teen-by-default settings and age assurance designed to create safer experiences for teens. We’re also launching recruitment for Discord's first Teen Council, creating a space for teen voices to help shape our safety and wellbeing work. Applications are now open for US teens ages 13–17. Learn more about these updates here: dis.gd/teen-safety