Fury over Discord’s age checks explodes after shady Persona test in UK

Here's something that caught my attention — Discord's new plan to verify user ages has sparked a huge backlash. Imagine this: after announcing all users will soon be defaulted to teen modes until they verify their age, many were stunned to learn they might need to upload government IDs. But here's the thing — just last year, a third-party partner’s breach exposed 70,000 Discord users’ IDs, and now Discord wants more? According to Ashley Belanger at Ars Technica, Discord says most won't need to show ID, instead relying on AI-powered video selfies to estimate age. Still, that raises serious privacy concerns, especially when you consider how sensitive that data could be. They also mentioned that behavioral signals might replace the need for ID checks someday, but that’s a risky gamble, especially with trust already shaken. So what does this actually mean? For users, it’s a reminder — be cautious about what data you're handing over, especially when a company's past breaches loom large.