Discord's Age Check Mess: Gambling Ads Slip Through

Discord's new age verification system is buggy and unpopular, and now the platform admits it's serving gambling ads to users it's supposed to protect.

Ever tried to verify your age on Discord lately? If so, you've probably noticed things are a bit... broken. And in a twist that's equal parts ironic and infuriating, Discord has just confirmed it's taking gambling sponsorships right as it rolls out an age verification system that's supposed to keep teens away from adult content.

The new age assurance update has been a disaster. Discord co-founder and CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy previously apologized for the policy's heavy-handed rollout. Then, in a September 23 Twitter post, the official Discord account acknowledged the bugs with a sarcastic tone: "When you launch an extremely popular age assurance update that everyone on Discord was really looking forward to and it has bugs." The post got 5.6 million views, and the replies were brutal. One user asked, "Are we fuckin serious," to which Discord replied, "No we are so fckin sarcastic." Yeah, that didn't help.

Discord says it's fixed two of the worst bugs: one that blocked verified adults from accessing age-restricted servers, and another that prevented accounts and verification levels from syncing across devices. But the damage to user trust might already be done.

Meanwhile, users in the United States have been spotting in-app ads for FanDuel, a popular sports prediction market betting app. In a statement to GameSpot, Discord sheepishly acknowledged it is indeed taking sponsorships for gambling services that are illegal for underage users—right as it enacts an immensely unpopular age verification system.

"We're taking a deliberate, user-first approach to evolving our ads business to add genuine value that connects naturally with our users' sports, gaming and entertainment interests," a Discord spokesperson said. The company seems to think daily fantasy sports ads are fine compared to traditional gambling. "Discord's policies still prohibit ads for traditional real-money gaming, including casinos and sportsbooks," the company added. "Daily Fantasy Sports ads, and FanDuel brand ads on Discord are intended for adults, and we are using a range of age signals to help ensure they are age appropriate. We use age group signals to exclude teens from seeing inappropriate ads and to make sure they have the right settings."

But an age verification system that failed to let adults access their own servers can surely be trusted to exclude teens from targeted ads, right? If you want to opt out of seeing this type of sponsored content, you'll have to dig through several layers of settings. Open your account settings, go to "Data & Privacy," then scroll down to sponsored content. Bafflingly, there's a search bar for just one item: "Real Money Gaming." While you're there, consider turning off all the data-driven personalization gunk, too.

"If you hide a topic below, then you will see no Sponsored Content from the topic," the in-app tooltip explains. However, it continues, "Discord's Ad Policy will control certain content you see regardless of these selections." The new age verification system and filters will rely on a mix of "AI validation and human review." So, what do you think? Will you be trusting Discord's age checks to keep your younger friends safe?