Discord ends Persona partnership after backlash over age verification and Palantir ties

Discord has confirmed it has now ended its relationship with Persona, an age verification and identity assurance provider, after sustained backlash over face scans and ID uploads tied to its upcoming global age verification push. Discord head of product policy Savannah Badalich said the company's experiment with Persona has now concluded. Persona has also drawn scrutiny because it is used by Reddit and Roblox, and because it has received backing from Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, tied to Palantir, which has sharpened surveillance concerns for many users.

Those concerns escalated further after researchers reported finding exposed code and thousands of files linked to Persona on a US government authorized endpoint, pointing to extensive verification checks, watchlist style screening, and risk scoring. The materials were described as accessible without an exploit, and reporting also suggested parts of the system appeared to be powered by an OpenAI powered chatbot. Persona’s CEO said Discord related verification data was deleted immediately and denied having US government contracts, while confirming communication with researchers after the exposure.

Discord later clarified that its Persona work had been a limited UK test, where age assurance had already launched. The company is now naming k ID, with support for ID verification via Veratad, as its listed vendors, and has repeatedly stressed that its facial age estimation happens locally on your device, with the video selfie staying on device rather than being uploaded. Discord says identity document images and ID match selfies are deleted once an age group is confirmed, and that most users will not be prompted unless it cannot determine adulthood with high confidence, as it keeps reevaluating vendors while the rollout expands under heavier privacy and surveillance scrutiny.

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