Discord distances itself from Persona age verification after user backlash
Discord is attempting to distance itself from age verification provider Persona following a steady stream of user backlash. In a statement emailed to The edgeSavannah Badalich, Discord’s head of product policy, confirms that the company “conducted a limited test of Persona in the UK where age assurance had already been launched and that test has since been completed.”
An archived version of Discord’s support page stated that users in the United Kingdom “could be part of an experiment” involving the processing of their age verification information through Persona. Users pointed to Persona’s privacy policy, which states that it may obtain users’ personal data 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 Discord removed mention of Persona from its support page around February 15, according to an archived version of the site. Persona CEO Rick Song shares Ars Technica that he deleted the information collected as part of the Discord test immediately after verification.
Amid the privacy concerns surrounding Persona, a report from the independent publication titled Anger highlighted the findings of three security researchers, who discovered code exposed “on a U.S. government-sanctioned endpoint,” as well as 2,456 files showing an interface “that combines facial recognition with financial reporting.” However, Persona CEO Rick Song confirmed Ars Technica that the company has no contract with the government, while Anger notes that the exposed 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.
Besides Persona, Discord has only specified its use of k-ID for age verification, indicating that its technology enables facial age estimation scans and can support ID scan verification through a company called Veratad. Discord maintains that the age estimation technology used for face scans will run locally on your device without downloading your selfie video, but does not include this language for “ID documents and identity matching selfies:”
Discord and k-ID do not permanently store personal identity documents or your video selfies. Your ID document images and ID matching selfies are deleted directly after your age range is confirmed, and the video selfie used for facial age estimation never leaves your device.
“We regularly evaluate our provider partners to improve our old age insurance experience and expand user options while prioritizing privacy,” says Badalich.
According to Discord, the “vast majority” of users will not have 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 did not access the settings or content that raises the flag. If Discord can’t determine that someone is an adult with “high trust,” they will default to a “teen” experience, which blocks access to age-restricted channels and servers and applies filters on sensitive content unless they verify their age, which could include some combination of face scanning or submitting a photo ID.
