In an update posted on Tuesday, Discord co‑founder and chief technology officer Stanislav Vishnevskiy explained that the new options are intended to meet emerging privacy‑focused regulations while still protecting teen users.

Vishnevskiy said the platform will assign users to one of three age groups—Adult (18+), Teen (13‑17) or Unconfirmed—based on account age or data from associated servers, and that the verification process does not involve reviewing messages, calls or other content.

The company originally announced in February that age verification would become mandatory for all users in March, but postponed the full rollout to the second half of 2026 citing privacy concerns and the need for clearer communication about how the system works.

Discord pledged greater transparency, stating it will publicly document every third‑party age‑assurance vendor and has already posted a list of those partners. It also released its age‑group estimation methodology and the first set of age‑assurance data in the 2026 Transparency Report, which includes results from launches in the United Kingdom and Australia.

Users who choose not to verify their age can continue using Discord with certain limitations while the platform assigns them to an unconfirmed group until sufficient data is gathered. Vishnevskiy emphasized that trust will be earned through the accuracy of age‑group estimates, the speed of correcting errors, and ongoing public reporting.