Discord Rival Maxes Out Hosting Capacity As Players Flee Age-Verification Crackdown (pcgamer.com)
(Tuesday February 17, 2026 @10:30PM (BeauHD)
from the jumping-ship dept.)
- Reference: 0180819472
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/02/17/2233250/discord-rival-maxes-out-hosting-capacity-as-players-flee-age-verification-crackdown
- Source link: https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/as-many-seek-a-discord-alternative-teamspeak-claims-an-incredible-surge-of-new-users-has-maxed-out-its-hosting-capacity-in-multiple-regions/
Following backlash over Discord's [1]global rollout of strict age-verification checks, users are flocking to rival platform TeamSpeak and overwhelming its servers. According to PC Gamer, the Discord alternative said its hosting capacity has been [2]maxed out in a number of regions including the U.S . From the report:
> [A]s I saw for myself while testing out free Discord alternatives, it's hard to deny the appeal of TeamSpeak. It's quick and easy to make an account, join or start a group chat, or join a massive, game-based community voice server, and at no point does TeamSpeak cheekily ask if it can scan your wizened visage.
>
> During my testing, I was able to dive into 18+ group chats without tripping over an age gate. However, there's no guarantee TeamSpeak won't have to deploy its own age verification mechanism in the future. In the UK at least, the Online Safety Act makes those sorts of checks a legal obligation, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently stating "No social media platform should get a free pass when it comes to protecting our kids."
>
> Besides all of that, if you'd rather not chat to randoms who also happen to have an unhealthy obsession with Arc Raiders, you'll likely need to pay an [3]admittedly small subscription fee to rent your own ten-person community voice server. By that point, you're handing over card details and essentially fulfilling an age assurance check anyway. If you'd rather limit how much info your chat platform of choice has about you, there are arguably better options out there.
[1] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/02/09/161215/discord-will-require-a-face-scan-or-id-for-full-access-next-month
[2] https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/as-many-seek-a-discord-alternative-teamspeak-claims-an-incredible-surge-of-new-users-has-maxed-out-its-hosting-capacity-in-multiple-regions/
[3] https://www.myteamspeak.com/communities/payments/subscriptions
> [A]s I saw for myself while testing out free Discord alternatives, it's hard to deny the appeal of TeamSpeak. It's quick and easy to make an account, join or start a group chat, or join a massive, game-based community voice server, and at no point does TeamSpeak cheekily ask if it can scan your wizened visage.
>
> During my testing, I was able to dive into 18+ group chats without tripping over an age gate. However, there's no guarantee TeamSpeak won't have to deploy its own age verification mechanism in the future. In the UK at least, the Online Safety Act makes those sorts of checks a legal obligation, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently stating "No social media platform should get a free pass when it comes to protecting our kids."
>
> Besides all of that, if you'd rather not chat to randoms who also happen to have an unhealthy obsession with Arc Raiders, you'll likely need to pay an [3]admittedly small subscription fee to rent your own ten-person community voice server. By that point, you're handing over card details and essentially fulfilling an age assurance check anyway. If you'd rather limit how much info your chat platform of choice has about you, there are arguably better options out there.
[1] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/02/09/161215/discord-will-require-a-face-scan-or-id-for-full-access-next-month
[2] https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/as-many-seek-a-discord-alternative-teamspeak-claims-an-incredible-surge-of-new-users-has-maxed-out-its-hosting-capacity-in-multiple-regions/
[3] https://www.myteamspeak.com/communities/payments/subscriptions
Age verification or surveillance? (Score:3)
by radaos ( 540979 )
The age verification will be carried out by Persona, a company linked to Peter Thiel.
Identification laws is attack on privacy (Score:4, Insightful)
It is strange to watch these corporate suicides repeatedly happen until you realize that it isn't about money, but about control. Age verification laws have one and only one true purpose - to make it impossible for dissidents to have anonymous online speech with any reach. Age verification is identity verification and just like happening in UK and Australia, if you disagree there will be a knock on your door.
Re: (Score:1)
It also happens a lot in EU and UK, which are hardly conservative.