Discord announced on Monday that it’s rolling out age verification on its platform globally starting next month, when it will automatically set all users’ accounts to a “teen-appropriate” experience unless they demonstrate that they’re adults.
Users who aren’t verified as adults will not be able to access age-restricted servers and channels, won’t be able to speak in Discord’s livestream-like “stage” channels, and will see content filters for any content Discord detects as graphic or sensitive. They will also get warning prompts for friend requests from potentially unfamiliar users, and DMs from unfamiliar users will be automatically filtered into a separate inbox.
Direct messages and servers that are not age-restricted will continue to function normally, but users won’t be able to send messages or view content in an age-restricted server until they complete the age check process, even if it’s a server they were part of before age verification rolled out. Savannah Badalich, Discord’s global head of product policy, said in an interview with The Verge that those servers will be “obfuscated” with a black screen until the user verifies they’re an adult. Users also won’t be able to join any new age-restricted servers without verifying their age.
I agree, do not trust russian based software because they definitely install backdoors.
I mean, so do US companies, but it’s moreso that kind of misdirection about E2EE that Telegram uses. Unlike something like Matrix/Element which goes out of it’s way to explain E2EE, make sure it’s default on in every conversation, including group conversations, Telegram isn’t clear that it’s E2EE is opt-in and isn’t available in groups. Also, their encryption is home-rolled and to my knowledge has never been audited. Plus the generally skeevy credentials of the owner/creator make it untrustworthy.
Also, it seems to be a haven for scammers, which also puts it in the “don’t suggest this to people” basket.