• Tech News Policy Discord distances itself from Persona age verification after user backlash The messaging platform says its ’limited test’ of Persona in the UK has come to an end. • The messaging platform says its ’limited test’ of Persona in the UK has come to an end. • Link Share Gift Discord is attempting to distance itself from the age verification provider Persona following a steady stream of user backlash. • In an emailed statement toThe Verge, Discord’s head of product policy, Savannah Badalich, confirms the company “ran a limited test of Persona in the UK where age assurance had previously launched and that test has since concluded.” After Discord announced plans to implement age verificationglobally starting next month, usersacross social mediaaccused Discordof “lying"about how it plans on handling face scans and ID uploads. • Much of the criticism was directed toward Discord’s partnership with Persona, an age verification provider also used byRedditandRoblox. • Anarchived versionofDiscord’s support page statedthat users in the UK “may be part of an experiment” that involves processing their age verification information through Persona.Users pointedto Persona’sprivacy policy, which states that it may obtain personal data from users through “third party databases, government records, and other publicly available sources.” Discord removed the mention of Persona from its support page on or around February 15th, according to anarchived version of the site.
Article Summaries:
- Discord has ended a limited test of the age‑verification service Persona in the UK and is distancing itself from the provider amid user backlash over privacy concerns. Head of product policy Savannah Badalich confirmed the experiment concluded and that Discord removed references to Persona from its support pages. The company says it will continue to use k‑ID for age verification, which performs facial age estimation locally on users’ devices and deletes any identity documents or selfies after verification. Discord maintains that most users will not need to verify their age and that it is evaluating vendors to improve privacy and user choice.
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