Wizard

VRChat向けアプリ「VRCPersona」を公開しました！無料ありです！ 最大の特徴はフレンドグループごとに独自ステータスをつけられること！ 「VRChatではオレンジだけど、特定のグループにだけ居場所を公開したい」そんな使い方ができます！ #VRCPersona #VRChat

Due to Photon's cloud servers going down globally, VRChat's API was also knocked offline. We held out for as long as possible, but due to this outage we have no choice but to postpone The VR Community Awards 2025. We apologise for the inconvenience. We will update with new times and dates as soon as possible and thank you for your patience.

So we bullied discord when they used persona for age verification. When are we gonna bully the fuck outta VRChat for using them too

so, instead of addressing fundamental issues, realizing that they shouldn't be using persona, and so much more; nah, let's do a collab with a failing & also desperate game company. surely that will drive sales folks.. seriously tho, tf did i just watch?

I am age verified officially through VRChat, we need to do better than this please.. I made a reasonable compromise and still was forced out. We shouldn't force people to give private information in public instances to strangers. Posting for change, please listen.

Translation: We got caught. We lied to you about getting caught. We got caught again. We tried to distance ourself from one problematic company for another problematic company. We got caught doing that too. We're going to try again in 6 months and hope none of you notice.

Twitch now requires some new Affiliates to verify their identity through Persona before receiving their first payout. Users report needing to submit a government-issued photo ID along with a selfie, with no alternative verification method offered, according to Twitch support.

That also mean any Age Verification Data used by VRChat is also out there, splendid. :)

The real question is this: when you read it, who are you actually angry at? Most people point to Discord. But Discord isn’t the endpoint. It’s the conduit. The real issue is who is collecting, storing, and analyzing the data, companies like Persona, OpenAI, Palantir, and U.S. government agencies. Criticize Discord, but don’t lose sight of who’s actually gathering and analyzing the data. ➤ vmfunc.re/blog/persona

Hackers recently exposed parts of Discord's age verification system by discovering that the frontend code for their partner Persona was publicly accessible on the open internet. This revealed details on how facial age estimation and ID verification are integrated. “Persona's exposed code compares your selfie to watchlist photos using facial recognition, screens you against 14 categories of adverse media (from mentions of terrorism to espionage), and tags reports with codenames from active intelligence programs consisting of public-private partnerships.”

🚨BREAKING: Discord's third party vendor ID Verification system, Persona just got hacked. Anyone who did verification with Persona, could be extensively compromised.

discord’s age verification vendor Persona just got hacked. openAI + US government + persona have been running identity surveillance since nov 2023 anyone who verified age on discord is now traceable. nothing is private anymore. vmfunc.re/blog/persona

I'm not even shocked at this point. But the question remains, is @VRChat's age verification in this mess as well? Remember, VRChat have asked Persona to delete information as soon as verification is done - but does Persona actually do it?

Discord is apparently switching age verification providers to Persona due to the bypasses... which means everything they said about it being client-side and face images not being uploaded is now false

“Facial scans never leave your device, and Discord and vendors never receive it.” Meanwhile people discovered you are using Persona service. A service that specifically requires a person’s face or ID scan to be sent to Persona’s databases. Caught lying again, Discord?

BREAKING NEWS: Discord tries to clarify their stance on why Age Verification is mandatory in this latest post Do not let them gaslight you into thinking this is okay

The harsh reality that not many will want to accept is that if Discord goes through with the Age Verification and their user base doesn't significantly drop. It will start a domino effect of every other app and site doing the same thing in the coming years. Mark my words

With the amount of backlash this is getting, over 12,000 replies on Discord’s own support post, thousands of comments, and nonstop criticism all over my feed alone, there’s no way their support team isn’t getting absolutely hammered right now. Big names across tech and social media are openly calling this out (as they should be), and at this point Discord really should issue a public statement explaining why they thought this was a good idea instead of hiding behind a generic safety page announcement and then going completely radio silent. If they actually cared about protecting kids, they’d open the floor, acknowledge the concerns, and explain their reasoning instead of pretending the outrage doesn’t exist. If they don’t address this directly, it just reinforces why people should start looking elsewhere, whether that’s (Stoat) Revolt, Root, Fluxer, or even old-school TeamSpeak; just anything that isn’t pushing identity checks by default. Silence here just makes everything look worse. What I will say is the absolute best thing they could do is retract this policy change and not enforce it.

And would you look at that, right on cue... I figured a PR post like this was coming after how hard people pushed back. It reads exactly like damage control. Lots of reassurance, lots of “trust us,” and zero acknowledgment of why people are actually upset. Saying most users won’t deal with it doesn’t change the fact that age prediction, ID checks, and biometric face scans are being (or already have been) baked into the platform. This still doesn’t address the core issue, especially after the massive data breach they just had last fall and brushed off like it was NOTHING while claiming they don't retain any of the verification data when, in fact, they obviously do! Not to mention the way this is being rolled out without real discussion even in countries where there currently are NO LAWS requiring ID verification to use social media platforms. Like I've been saying, the only way to make these guys listen is to stop using their platform, find alternatives, and most of all please for the love of your personal data, DO NOT upload your ID or scan your face to use this platform. The only chance they have at salvaging this situation is to roll back on this change, which we all know they likely won't.