We’re proud to be a space where teens connect over shared interests, play games with friends, and express themselves. On Safer Internet Day, we’re reaffirming our commitment to building safer experiences for teens—proactively investing in their safety and wellbeing while respecting their privacy and agency.
Expanding Age-Appropriate Safety Experiences Worldwide
Starting in early March, we’re proactively rolling out safety features worldwide that will help ensure age-appropriate experiences for everyone while preserving the genuine community atmosphere that makes Discord special. These updates introduce stronger default safety settings and clearer boundaries around age-restricted experiences through age assurance.
Last year, we launched age assurance and teen-by-default experiences in the UK and Australia. This work helped us understand how to build age-appropriate protections that work for teens globally while keeping Discord accessible. Now, we’re expanding these protections to the rest of the world.
Teen-by-Default Safety Settings
Everyone on Discord starts with robust safety features turned on, regardless of age. We call this “teen-by-default” because these settings establish a clear safety baseline designed with teens in mind, with flexibility for adults to customize their experience. Adults can verify their age and adjust settings, while unverified users maintain these protections.
Default settings include:
- Content Filters: Discord users will need to be age-assured as adults in order to unblur sensitive content or turn off the setting.
- Age-gated Spaces: Only users who are age-assured as adults will be able to access age-restricted channels, servers, and app commands.
- Message Request Inbox: Direct messages from people a user may not know are routed to a separate inbox by default, and access to modify this setting is limited to age-assured adult users.
- Friend Request Alerts: People will receive warning prompts for friend requests from users they may not know.
- Stage Restrictions: Only age-assured adults may speak on stage in servers.
Many users can continue using Discord exactly as they do today without ever being prompted to confirm their age. Age assurance is only required when attempting to access age-restricted content or adjust certain safety settings.
Privacy-Forward Age Assurance
We’re releasing a toolkit of age assurance methods designed to prioritize accuracy and privacy, including age inference technology that determines with high confidence whether a user is an adult based on behavioral patterns. We also offer additional methods through trusted privacy-forward partners, such as facial age estimation and ID scan, all designed to minimize data use and maximize user control.
Key privacy protections include on-device processing for facial age estimation, quick deletion of identity documents, and private verification status that only the user can see.
Discord Teen Council: Building With Teens, Not Just For Them
Safety features work best when informed by the people they’re meant to support. That’s why we’re launching Discord’s first Teen Council, with recruitment opening to U.S. teens (13-17) this month through May 2026. The Council will bring real teen perspectives directly into safety, wellbeing, and experience discussions, helping shape future features and platform updates—an important step toward ensuring Discord reflects what teens actually want, need, and enjoy.
Interested teens can apply here. We’ll announce the Council’s formation and top priorities in late summer 2026.
Looking Ahead
This work builds on Discord’s broader safety ecosystem, including Family Center, Teen Safety Assist, Warning System, Guardian’s Guide, and more. Together, these efforts reflect our commitment to creating privacy-forward, age-appropriate experiences that empower teens to engage thoughtfully, connect meaningfully, and develop lifelong digital wellbeing skills.
Building a safer Discord takes continual and collaborative effort. We’re committed to doing that work thoughtfully, alongside the communities who make Discord special.