The graphics and models of games are becoming more realistic. A game by Hideo Kojima looks so good that it can apparently trick Discord’s facial recognition.
What kind of facial recognition is this? Since July 25, 2025, platforms in the UK are required to protect children on the internet
. Through the Online Safety Act, which was passed in 2023 (via gov.uk), platforms must implement age verification to keep children away from harmful, inappropriate, or hateful content.
This also applies to Discord. If you want to access servers and channels in the UK that offer adult content, you must provide a picture of your face or your ID. For this, Discord uses the tool k-ID.
The tool is supposed to recognize your age based on photos if you do not use your ID. To avoid possible tricks, the tool also requires you to open and close your mouth in photos. According to the official website, data is not supposed to be stored, as Discord itself explains on their support website.
However, the system does not seem to be entirely mature, as users were able to bypass it with Death Stranding.
Death Stranding simply looks too good
How did users trick the system? User @DanySterkhov posted on x.com a picture of how he used an image of the character Sam from Death Stranding to convince Discord that he is an adult. First, he tried it with another picture, but then Discord wanted him to open his mouth in one of the pictures. He then used the photo mode from Death Stranding to take such a picture with his phone.
Under the tweet, there are other users who apparently succeeded. An editor from the website PC Gamer writes in his article that he supposedly tried it himself and it also worked in his case if Sam wears a hat.
The legendary developer Hideo Kojima is known for his attention to detail and his love for films. To bring the actors in Death Stranding to life, he relied on motion capture technology. This captures not only real movements but also the faces of the characters with the technique, making them look so realistic (via YouTube).
In the photo mode of Death Stranding, you can make Sam express various facial expressions, which also allows you to achieve an open mouth.
Even though it is important to protect children on the internet from inappropriate and harmful content, the new systems do not seem to be mature enough to ensure that. The current example shows how easily they can be tricked. Therefore, as a parent, one should never fully rely on such systems. Besides protecting children, the Online Safety Act in the UK is also criticized.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which advocates for civil rights in the information age, criticizes the law and the systems behind it regarding security, privacy, and the possibility of censorship. The human rights organization Article 19 also expresses criticism of the law and sees the danger that authoritarian states could be encouraged to use similar systems.
Security and privacy are always important topics on the internet. Some providers assure users that they completely protect them from data theft or information loss, but even these providers must concede: Telegram assures you absolute privacy, but earlier this year, 22,777 data points ended up with the authorities
