Discord has delayed plans to introduce global age verification measures following sustained criticism from its community, pushing back a rollout that had been scheduled to begin in March.

Stanislav Vishnevskiy, the company’s co-founder and chief technology officer, said the planned global rollout of a verification process to determine users under the age of 16 would now take place in the latter half of this year. The platform stressed it would continue to meet any specific legal obligations it has for age verification of users, and that age verification will form part of the platform in the future.

In a blog post, Vishnevskiy acknowledged the controversy surrounding the move. “We knew this rollout was going to be controversial,” he wrote. “In hindsight, we should have provided more detail about our intentions and how the process works.”

He added that broader mistrust of technology companies and concerns about online surveillance had intensified scrutiny of the company’s intentions. “I get that scepticism. It’s earned, not just toward us, but toward the entire tech industry,” Vishnevskiy wrote.

Under the revised plans, less than 10% of users are expected to need to verify their age when the system is introduced later this year. Those users would be unable to access “age-restricted content” and some default settings would be put in place until their age is verified.

Discord said that one reason relatively few users would be prompted to verify is that it already operates an internal “age determination” system. According to the company, this system assesses “how long your account has existed, whether you have a payment method on file, what types of servers you’re in, and general patterns of account activity.” Vishnevskiy said the system “does not read your messages, analyse your conversations, or look at the content you post” in order to determine age.

Amid concerns over transparency, the chief technology officer said Discord would publish details of its age determination methodology before the global launch.

The platform, which says it has 200 million monthly users, had initially intended to implement age verification globally by defaulting users into a version of Discord designed for people under 16 until their age was confirmed.

The move forms part of Discord’s efforts to align with new and anticipated rules governing young people’s access to social media in countries including the UK, Australia, EU member states and Brazil, as well as individual US states considering their own legislation. The company is also reportedly planning to go public this year.

However, the proposal to require facial, photo or government ID scans for age confirmation prompted swift backlash from users. Many were drawn to Discord for its ability to create private, invite-only online spaces for discussion via text, voice and video.

Recent security incidents have compounded distrust. In October, official ID photos of around 70,000 users collected through a previous age-verification partnership were likely leaked following a cyber-attack. Discord reiterated in the blog post that when a global age verification system is eventually rolled out, no images used in the process will be stored.

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Discord has experienced rapid growth in recent years, particularly among online gamers who use the platform to congregate, often anonymously, including those who stream gaming activity on services such as Twitch. Vishnevskiy noted that “the number of teenagers on Discord has significantly increased” since the pandemic.

The company maintains that age assurance is intended to preserve the existing experience for most users while ensuring age-appropriate access to content. For now, however, the global rollout will remain on hold as Discord seeks to expand verification options.