External Publication
Visit Post

Discord's Global Mandatory Age Verification, Nest Keeps Footage Even If You Don't Pay, Ring Gets Too Creepy For Everyone, and More!

Privacy Guides February 13, 2026
Source

Our top stories this week:

  • Discord voluntarily starts rolling out mandatory age verification for all users
  • Google pulled old footage from a Nest doorbell even though the customer wasn't paying the subscription
  • Ring's new "find your pet" feature has not gone over well, even with mainstream audiences
  • DHS is spying on Reddit

TWIP Live 🔴


Updates from the Team

On our various social media platforms, Jordan crafted a couple of excellent posts worth sharing (moreso than usual). One is about Discord's upcoming age verification push (which we discussed in this week's episode) and some alternatives we recommend instead. The other will publish this weekend taking advantage of the Valentine's Day season to suggest people switch to Signal. Here's the Discord one on Mastodon so you can see an example, and a link to all our social media so you can pick whichever platforms you use to share there.

Post by @privacyguides@neat.computer View on Mastodon

About Privacy Guides - Privacy GuidesPrivacy Guides is a socially motivated website that provides information for protecting your data security and privacy.Privacy Guides


Sources

Discord faces backlash over age checks after data breach exposed 70,000 IDs

This week, Discord announced (out of the blue) that they were going to start defaulting all accounts to teen accounts unless accounts verify as being adults. In most cases, Discord will attempt to do this automatically using account metadata such as age of the account, games you play, and active times, but if they determine you're a minor you'll have to submit to either a face scan or ID.

Upgrade to continue reading

Become a paid member to get access to all premium content

Upgrade

Discussion in the ATmosphere

Loading comments...