Discord Age Data Leak?! UK Users in Shock Experiment!

Discord, the popular communication platform, is finding itself in hot water across the pond. UK users are reporting that they're now part of a rather unnerving "experiment" related to age verification, and it's raising a lot of eyebrows. The initial promise of keeping age verification data strictly on-device seems to be… well, not quite holding up.

Discord Age Data Leak?! UK Users in Shock Experime...

The platform, keen on becoming a safer space for younger users, is rolling out a "teen-by-default" initiative. Come March, accessing certain features and what Discord delicately calls "sensitive content" will require age verification. Fair enough, you might think. Users are given the option to verify using facial age estimation or by submitting official identification.

Here's where things get a little murky. Initially, Discord’s FAQ gave the impression that those potentially awkward video selfies taken for facial age estimation would stay right on your phone, untouched. Now, however, UK users are finding that the FAQ has been quietly updated. They "may be part of an experiment" where their data is actually processed by Persona, a third-party age-assurance vendor. This means submitted information, including those selfies and your date of birth, will be "temporarily stored for up to 7 days, then deleted." A significant departure from the original plan, wouldn't you say?

Discord is adamant that only the necessary information is used and that everything is appropriately blurred, but the change has understandably caused a stir. PC Gamer, among others, has suggested this shift might be linked to users finding ways around the verification process offered by Discord's other partner, k-ID. Perhaps Persona offers a more… robust solution? Unlike k-ID, Persona doesn't offer clear assurances that those video selfies will *never* leave your device. Uh oh.

But the plot thickens! Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that Persona's investors include Peter Thiel's investment fund. Thiel, of course, is the founder of Palantir, that rather notorious data and surveillance company used by various US federal agencies. Oh, and his name pops up quite a bit in the Epstein files, which, I think we can all agree, isn’t exactly a positive association. It’s a lot to take in, I know.

Let's not forget that Discord suffered a security breach back in October. A third-party customer service system was compromised, exposing user data, including, gulp, government IDs. Given all of this, it's no wonder users are feeling a little queasy about the security and privacy implications of Discord's new age verification system. I know I would be. The platform really needs to reassure users about how they're handling their data – and fast. Trust is hard-earned and easily lost.