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Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month
(www.theverge.com)
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this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2026
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how is a government requirement for age verification forcing a company to implement a non profitable change the fault of capitalism? I guess the 10 years have been a good sample of what capitalism does to a platform. Discord saw a problem and used VC capital to build one of the most well engineered platforms on the market with hundreds of millions of free users and many happy to pay to support it.
If you don't think this is all a pretense to collect more data and sell it.. All the way up to the govt enforcing these rules lmao
wow this is just what they need to know who you are.. the final piece of the puzzle. You dont think discord can accurately identify most of its users already. They have email, IP, device, port scans of the network, all the people they interact with, contact list scans, social media and online account linking. This only affects a small subset of users and doesnt even go to discord as its done through a 3rd party service.
"They already have your data bro, it's fine just let them scan your face too bro, it's all a third party really bro trust them."
"Its all a conspiracy man, all the way up to the government man, all this is being done to collect more data having a picture of someones face is so valuable". You do not live in reality and there is no logic to your story. Discord is not accessing this photo so they have nothing to sell. Discord gains nothing and suffers reputational harm for this change. Then the "nefarious" 3rd party age verification company who supposedly stands to benefit the most out of all this. There is fuck all money to be made as an ID verification service, they are not legally able to sell the data and will most likely be automated out of existence in the next few years. Lastly why the fuck would the government suffer reputational harm to do all this to access your ID, you may not be aware but they actually already have your id and sensitive information about you. You werent private on discord before this change and wont be after. Unless you've taken extraordinary security measures, Discord should be treated as a public forum.
Its not a change im happy about but its the way legislation is going around the world and it makes sense discord would comply. At the end of the day I operate on the internet under my personal info, i use a cc with my name, i use my personal phone number, i use my email. Im under no illusion that im not identifiable. If thats a red line for you then either dont access nsfw content or dont use discord you dont have to make up a crazy conspiracy to explain the actions.
You could argue that in a general sense government regulation goes against unfettered capitalism. Though in this age where personal information is a commodity, some might say this is being used as a pretense.
I think the argument that this is done to collect more personal info is stupid.
Did you miss the part where the change is global? It also applies where the government hasn't required it.
how does that change anything?
the ID isn't a direct cause. i just mention capitalism because most of the rest of the cause for me leaving is the enshittification. this is just the straw that broke the camels back like how reddit killing the app api is what pushed me off that platform
It absolutely is a direct cause.
These ID verification companies have been lobbying governments to mandate this so they can earn $$$$
Thats true but ID companies are not lobbying or making changes on a scale that matters. This change isnt going through because an id company lobbied the government. Its actually a popular position with the constituents of the democracy. Its supported by many different interest groups for various reasons good and bad. To simplify it down to "id companies lobbying the government to earn money" is in my opinion intentionally misleading.
I think you underestimate how much lobbying is happening by these firms. It's a 10s of billions of dollars industry, and it's up and coming hence why it's suddenly starting to happen everywhere. It's not happening because its suddenly a good idea all over the world.
Huge money involved.