Discord is attempting to distance itself from age verification provider Persona after a steady stream of user backlash. In an emailed statement to The VergeDiscord’s head of product policy, Savannah Badalich, confirms that the company “conducted a limited test of Persona in the UK, where age-locking was previously in place, and that test has since been discontinued.”
An archived version of the company’s Discord support page said that users in the UK “may be part of an experiment” that involves processing their age verification information through the Persona app. Users pointed to Persona’s privacy policy, which states it can collect personal information from users through “third-party databases, government records, and other publicly available sources.” Discord removed mention of Persona from its support page around February 15, according to an archived version of the site. Says Persona CEO Rick Song Ars Technica that he deleted the information collected as part of the Discord test immediately after verification.
Amid privacy concerns surrounding Persona, a report from an independent publication has come Rage highlighted the findings of three security researchers who discovered exposed code “on a US government-authorized endpoint” along with 2,456 files showing an interface “that pairs facial recognition with financial reporting.” However, Persona CEO Rick Song confirmed Ars Technica that the company has no government contracts Rage notes that the revealed code “appears to be powered by an OpenAI chatbot”. Song is in active communication with one of the researchers who discovered the exposed code, which has since been removed.
Aside from Persona, Discord has only specified its use of k-ID for age verification, saying that its technology allows facial age estimation scans and can support ID scan verification through a company called Veratad. Discord claims that the age-estimation technology used for facial scanning will work locally on your device without recording your selfie video, but it doesn’t include this language for “IDs and selfies with matching IDs:”
Discord and k-ID do not permanently store personal IDs or your video selfies. Your ID pictures and selfies with matching IDs are deleted directly after confirming your age group, and video selfies used to estimate facial age never leave your device.
“We regularly evaluate vendor partners to improve our age-proofing experience and expand user options while prioritizing privacy,” says Badalich.
According to Discord, the “vast majority” of users will not need to verify their age on the platform, either because the machine learning model they use to estimate age based on existing account information, device and activity data determines that it is not necessary, or because the user has not accessed settings or content that raises the flag. If Discord can’t determine that someone is a “high confidence” adult, they’ll be placed in a “teen” environment by default, which blocks access to age-restricted channels and servers and places filters on sensitive content unless they verify their age, which can involve a combination of scanning their face or submitting a photo ID.