Age verification is not en never was about protecting children. It's about mass surveillance.

"Once a user verifies their identity with Persona, the software performs 269 distinct verification checks and scours the internet and government sources for potential matches, such as by matching your face to politically exposed persons (PEPs), and generating risk and similarity scores for each individual. IP addresses, browser fingerprints, device fingerprints, government ID numbers, phone numbers, names, faces, and even selfie backgrounds are analyzed and retained for up to three years."

https://www.therage.co/persona-age-verification/

#AgeVerification #MassSurveillance #Persona #Thiel #ChatControl #Discord

Some very clever persons have discovered what Persona do with the data they receive.

Here is a very good article about what they have found:
https://vmfunc.re/blog/persona

I haven't finished to read the article, but it talk about surveillance, watchlist, facial recognition to check if you look like a politically exposed person, check if you are a "terrorist"…

And Persona is used by other services. Like OpenAI. (If I understand correctly, I do not use IA)

[2/2]

#Persona
#OpenAI
#Surveillance

So, Discord have started to experiment the next step of their age verification: Send "age verification" data to the company Persona.

Persona, in which Peter Thiel have investments. Peter Thiel is the founder of Palantir, a data and surveillance company that collaborate with USA federal agencies. Including ICE. (And their is a lot of other things to tell about Thiel.

But wait, there is more about Persona. [1/2]

https://www.eurogamer.net/discord-advises-uk-users-that-they-may-be-part-of-an-experiment-where-instead-of-their-age-verification-data-never-leaving-their-phone-it-will-now-actually-leave-their-phone

#Discord
#Persona
#Surveillance
#Palantir

OpenAI, the US government and Persona built an identity surveillance machine

https://vmfunc.re/blog/persona/

#HackerNews #OpenAI #USGovernment #IdentitySurveillance #Persona #PrivacyTech

Discord cuts ties with Peter Thiel-backed verification software

https://fortune.com/2026/02/24/discord-peter-thiel-backed-persona-identity-verification-breach/

#HackerNews #Discord #Persona #Thiel #Verification #Software #Breach #News

Fury over #Discord’s age checks explodes after shady #Persona test in #UK

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/discord-and-persona-end-partnership-after-shady-uk-age-test-sparks-outcry/

#privacy #biometrics #AgeVerification #IdentityVerification #SocialMedia

#Persona, a Peter #Theil of #Palantir fame funded provider of identity and age verification services for companies like #Discord and the entire #UK, left their code base open to the web. Of course they did.

Let’s look at what it does, shall we?

The platform performs 269 individual verification checks on user data, far beyond basic age verification.

#Surveillance: Persona’s system screens users against global watchlists, including those for #terrorism, #espionage, and politically exposed persons ( #PEPs), using facial recognition and risk scoring. Researchers confirmed that the government-facing and consumer-facing versions of Persona use the same underlying code, suggesting a unified surveillance infrastructure.

Data Retention: Personal data including government ID, phone numbers, names, faces, selfies, IP addresses, browser fingerprints, and device fingerprints—is collected and retained for up to three years.
(1/2) edit hashtags, new info

#Persona leak continued (2/2)

Integration with Government Systems: The platform is capable of filing Suspicious Activity Reports ( #SARs) directly to #FinCEN (U.S. Treasury) and #FINTRAC (Canada), and integrates with blockchain analytics tools like #Chainalysis to monitor cryptocurrency addresses.

Suspicious Checks: Some checks, like "SelfieSuspiciousEntityDetection" and "SelfiePoseRepeatedDetection", lack clear definitions of what constitutes a "suspicious" face or repeated pose, raising concerns about bias and opacity.

This is a big deal. I’ve been telling y’all that age verification was just a way to gather intelligence.

https://www.therage.co/persona-age-verification/

I've seen several toots and boosts about what data #Persona slurps up when you go through the process to be verified on #LinkedIn. Both @Ivovanwilligen and @BenjaminHCCarr shared good information about this.

To aid folks in requesting and deleting their data from Persona's system, you can use this helpful intake form, which is their #GDPR Data Subject Access Request form:

https://withpersona.com/dsar

https://thelocalstack.eu/posts/linkedin-identity-verification-privacy/

#privacy #anonymity #infosec

Fury over #Discord’s age checks explodes after shady #Persona test in #UK

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/discord-and-persona-end-partnership-after-shady-uk-age-test-sparks-outcry/

#privacy #biometrics #AgeVerification #IdentityVerification #SocialMedia

I've seen several toots and boosts about what data #Persona slurps up when you go through the process to be verified on #LinkedIn. Both @Ivovanwilligen and @BenjaminHCCarr shared good information about this.

To aid folks in requesting and deleting their data from Persona's system, you can use this helpful intake form, which is their #GDPR Data Subject Access Request form:

https://withpersona.com/dsar

https://thelocalstack.eu/posts/linkedin-identity-verification-privacy/

#privacy #anonymity #infosec

RE: https://mastodon.social/@Ivovanwilligen/116110881126241280

Someone replied to this post that it is MY JOB to read all privacy policies and terms of use. I disagree.

We live in a democracy. That’s precisely why we have laws, regulators, and public institutions, to ensure that companies follow fair rules and don’t take advantage of people. It’s neither realistic nor reasonable to expect every individual to read and fully understand dozens of lengthy, complex legal documents just to participate in everyday digital life.

Consumer protection exists for a reason. Accountability shouldn't depend on how much free time or legal expertise each person has; it should be built into the system.

#Democracy #EU #DataPrivacy #Consumer #Persona #PeterThiel #Palantir

@evacide Persona? #Persona deserves its own social movement in opposition to its existence.

Persona, the company ties to Palantir and that Discord was going to use for AI Age verification through facial recognition. Has TLS Certificates referencing Moldy Ratshit Inc.

lol
https://crt.sh/?q=withpersona.com

Thanks @gayint

#discord #ageverification #persona