Users claim Discord's age verification can be tricked with video game characters

Summary

Sam Porter Bridges, played by Norman Reedus. (Death Stranding) Discord’s new age-verification tool may not be as rigorous as it seems, after users reportedly discovered it can be tricked using video game characters. The instant messaging and VoIP platform, commonly used for gaming, implemented an age-check tool earlier this month for UK users in anticipation of a new set of laws aimed at restricting potentially harmful content for under-18s. The Online Safety Act, passed in 2023, requires service providers that host user-generated content to implement age checks to ensure that children are protected from adult or otherwise inappropriate content. It allows the broadcast and online regulator, Ofcom, to fine website and app hosts that don’t meet its age verification standards. Discord’s age-checking tool requires that users complete an age-verification check, which requires them to provide either a picture of their face or ID, to access ‘Not Safe for Work’ (NSFW) channels, servers, or otherwise “adult” images and videos. But, as one user discovered, the age-check tool can reportedly be fooled by using images of high-fidelity video game characters. In a viral X/Twitter post on Friday (25 July), a Discord user shared screenshots of their age-verification process, saying that because their phone hadn’t updated the Discord mobile app, and their computer didn’t have a webcam, they tried tricking it with a picture of the character Sam Porter Bridges from Death Stranding. The user claims to have used a picture of the character, played by Norman Reedus, to trick the age-check tool into believing it was them. The 2019 video game also comes with a picture mode, which allows the player to change Sam’s facial expression, allowing the user to bypass a secondary check which requires a person to open and close their mouth to make sure they are a “real person.” The Discord user then shared a screenshot suggesting that the age-verification tool had determined they were an adult and all...