February 9, 2026
Teens, IDs, and AIM nostalgia collide
Discord Launches Teen-by-Default Settings Globally
Safety first or fun police? Parents cheer, power users grumble, AIM nostalgia erupts
TLDR: Discord will make teen-safe settings the default worldwide and require age checks to see adult content or change key controls. Commenters split between applauding protections, warning about platform lock-in (cue TeamSpeak horror stories), and jokingly rallying for an AIM comeback—privacy, friction, and nostalgia all colliding in one update.
Discord just flipped the safety switch: starting in March, every account worldwide will default to teen-friendly settings. Think blurred sensitive pics, locked “adults-only” rooms, and strangers’ DMs shunted to a quiet inbox unless you prove you’re grown. Age checks include a quick selfie estimate that stays on your phone, or showing ID to a vendor.
The commentariat? Split and spicy. Nostalgia kids burst in yelling, “Someone bring back AOL Instant Messenger!” with one fan even dropping an open-source server link and jokes about reviving SmarterChild to tussle with modern chatbots. Veterans side-eye platform control, pointing to TeamSpeak’s license squeeze—“Teamspeak 5 is not teamspeak. It’s matrix …”—as a cautionary tale about lock-in and monthly approvals. Practical folks cheer anything that makes essential info visible to outsiders: “At least this would make FAQs… available to non-users.” And a meta crowd pushed the debate over to Hacker News for a bigger brawl. Bottom line: parents and safety advocates are clapping, power users are wary of more ID hoops, and everyone else is cracking memes while waiting to see how strict Discord’s new “teen-first” vibe really feels.
Key Points
- •Discord will roll out teen-by-default safety settings globally starting in early March 2026 for all users over 13.
- •Access to age-restricted channels, servers, commands, and some message requests will require age assurance.
- •Age assurance options include on-device facial age estimation or submitting an identity document to vendor partners, with an age inference model assisting in the background.
- •Privacy protections include on-device processing for video selfies, quick deletion of IDs by vendors, one-time verification in most cases, and private verification status.
- •Default settings add content filters, restrict age-gated spaces to verified adults, and route DMs from unknown people to a separate Message Request Inbox with limited modification access.