Discord is expanding stricter age settings to users worldwide.

The messaging-based social platform announced Monday that starting next month, it will set all new and existing accounts to so-called “teen-by-default” settings. That means users who want to access age-restricted content and features will now have to prove they are adults.

The move comes as governments increasingly scrutinize the impact of social media on children and teenagers. Earlier this year, Australia became the first country to begin enforcing a law banning social media accounts for children under the age of 16. Other countries, including Spain, Denmark, and Malaysiaannounced plans to continue similar restrictions.

Discord previously introduced age verification requirements in Australia and the UK to comply with the country’s Online Safety Act, a sweeping set of rules passed in 2023 aimed at preventing minors from accessing pornography and other harmful content related to self-harm, suicide, and eating disorders.

Today, even in countries where age verification is not legally required, Discord continues to make changes around the world.

“The global launch of teen settings builds on Discord’s existing safety architecture, giving teens strong protections while allowing adults flexibility,” Savannah Badalich, Discord’s head of product policy, wrote in a press release. “We designed our products with teen safety principles at the core and will continue to work with safety experts, policymakers, and Discord users to support meaningful, long-term teen benefits on the platform.”

To verify their age, users have two main options. They can take a video selfie to get a face-based age estimate, which Discord says is processed and never leaves a user’s device. Alternatively, users can upload a government-issued ID to one of Discord’s third-party vendor partners, which the company says deletes the documents after verification.

Discord also expanded its age inference model, a system designed to determine whether an account likely belongs to an adult, without always requiring manual verification.

Users who have not been verified as adults are restricted from accessing sensitive content, age-restricted channels, and certain interactive features. Only age-verified adults can speak in Discord Stage channels, audio-based areas used for live events, panels, and Q&As.

Age verification, however, remains controversial. Previously, some users found it creative ways to bypass verification systems on different platforms. And in October, one of Discord’s third-party age verification vendors reportedly suffered a data breach disclosure of user information, including photos of government IDs.