'I do not trust them' - top streamers left concerned by Discord age checks

Alastair, or Eret as he is known online, is one of Twitch's most popular LGBT streamers - with more than one million followers on the streaming site.

The US-based British content creator, who does not disclose his last name, says he has around 60,000 members in his server on Discord, an online chat service popular with gamers.

"A lot of people use the online world as a place where they can talk about things that they might not feel safe talking about with people in the real world, where being queer might result in being prosecuted," he told the BBC.

"I really do not want to send Discord my ID given their track record - I do not trust them."

Alastair is referring to an incident last October, when Discord admitted official ID photos of around 70,000 users had potentially leaked after a breach at a firm which helped it verify ages.

After its age verification announcement was met with backlash, Discord clarified its age estimation tech would mean the "vast majority" of people would not need to complete age checks.

But some users remain concerned about the platform's approach.

Its recent trial of age checking software by Persona in the UK has attracted some scrutiny over the vendor's backing by an investment firm co-founded by Peter Thiel, boss of controversial US data firm Palantir.

Google searches for Discord alternatives have meanwhile spiked worldwide, with some social media users claiming to have cancelled their Discord subscriptions.

And for Alastair and other streamers keen to protect themselves and their followers online, the damage is already done.

Toby, who streams as Tubbo, is a British content creator known for his Minecraft streams, with over 5.2 million followers on Twitch and 2.7 million on YouTube.

Despite Discord's assurances, he says he would not trust his data would be kept secure if required to verify his age.

"I just think it's kind of a dangerous precedent for social media companies to request 3D scans of your face or official documents without there being any kind of knowledge of how that information is being protected or stored," he tells the BBC.

Katie - an American streamer known as Pikachulita - echoed his concerns.

She said she was unsure what guarantees Discord could give to users about protecting their information against hackers and "other malicious entities".

"We live in a time when it's not too far-fetched to believe that companies like Discord could share this data with state or federal agencies - in the US or elsewhere - for their benefit," Katie said.

What changes are coming to Discord?

From March, all new and existing Discord users worldwide will be placed into a "teen-by-default" experience.

The settings, which have been in place for users in Australia and UK since 2025, mean people cannot access sensitive content or age-restricted servers and channels unless they are verified as an adult.

Discord will initially attempt to identify adult users with information it already has about their platform activity.

Users it cannot determine are adults will have to complete a facial scan or provide ID to access the full platform.

Discord says facial scans never leave the user's device and IDs are only used to check a person's age, then deleted.

Savannah Badalich, the platform's head of product policy, has said the new default restrictions build on existing measures "giving teens strong protections while allowing verified adults flexibility".

But Dr Peter Macaulay, senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Derby, told the BBC backlash to Discord's new measures shows the challenge for tech firms in deploying child safety tools while preserving the trust of their communities.

"Moving forward, age verification measures that verify age without retaining unnecessary personal identity information, and are transparent about data handling, are key," he said.

Prof Carissa Véliz of the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford University said trusting a firm to keep its word about how it uses sensitive data was another challenge.

"Companies have broken their word before, facing little to no consequences," she said.

The streamers who spoke to the BBC say something must be done to protect children on Discord - but it shouldn't be at the cost of other users' sensitive information.

"I just want to be able to make my content," Alastair said.

"I want to interact with my community, and know that whatever platform they're talking on, they're going to be safe."

Additional reporting by Emma Calder