What is Discord?

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The Discord App is free, and serves as the most popular cross-platform voice and text app of its kind, designed specifically for gamers. It was created to replace other video and voice chat apps by offering features that gamers love, particularly those playing massively multiplayer online games (MMO’s).

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Discord allows users to create and join servers, channels, and chatrooms to interact with select groups of people based on something they have in common. Users can send direct messages to each other, which means conversations can be kept private.

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How Does Discord Work?

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Users can access the app on their PC, mobile device, or gaming console (voice chat only for Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5).

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Once you've created an account, you can add friends and join "servers" which function as group chats. Many communities have a dedicated Discord server. Some aren't even gaming related, such as in-person hobbies and even some jobs use Discord to communicate instead of Zoom or Slack.

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Apart from text-based servers, which allow pictures, videos, and links, but there are also voice chat servers. This is another key aspect to Discord, especially amongst gamers who want to talk to each other while playing games.

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It can be a great way to connect. But Discord is a very mature app with very real risks.

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What Do Parents Need to Know about Discord?

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It’s a massively popular social media app. During the pandemic, Discord exploded to over 100M members and it began classifying itself in the app store as “social media.” In the winter of 2023, Discord updated their mobile layout to feature a fully separate tab for direct messaging. The platform continues to focus on connection with others as a primary service. It’s social media, often based around specific communites or groups of friends.

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Fun for Keeping Groups in Touch. Consider all the different circles of friends and associates each one of us has in life. Wouldn’t it be so much easier if we could all connect directly through one simple app? For gamers, this ability to speak with who they’re playing with is very important. But as we mention below, this can a slippery slope, as not all servers are safe and sometimes a Discord server contains much more than simply keeping groups in touch.

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Privacy and Limits. Users who create servers or channels are able to limit who can join or message people within their group. The default setting, however, is no verification requirement at all. Most servers typically require an invitation or request to join, much like a private group on Facebook.

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Not all Servers are Safe. In the summer of 2023, massive amounts of classified government information was leaked by the user “OG” who hosted a private Discord community. From where we see it, all of this could’ve been leaked on just about any platform, and it simply happened to be on Discord. However, the relationships that were made through video calls and voice chats may have contributed to OG trusting or wanting to share these documents. That experience of video, voice, and frequent texting all with the same people on the same server across multiple devices, phones, gaming consoles, and computers is pretty exclusive to Discord.

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There are Serious Risks. Reports of abuse have skyrocketed along with the user base. A recent report from NBC News revealed how over 160 cases of child grooming, kidnapping, and sexual assault began through contact over Discord.

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According to Discord’s transparency report from October – December 2022:

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• 33,232 servers were removed from the platform, with more than half of the removals being related to Child Safety.
• 153,833 accounts were disabled for policy violations such as Regulated or Illegal Activities, Child Safety, and Exploitative & Unsolicited Content.
• 11,589 accounts were reported to NCMEC, as well as 69 additional “high-harm grooming or endangerment” reports.

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Additional insights from the transparency report:

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• 36 million accounts were disabled for spamming, this was down from last quarter (50 million).
• 37,102 accounts were disabled and 17,426 servers were removed for Child Safety violations.

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Is there Pornography on Discord?

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The problem is that any digital environment that promotes secrecy or privacy to its users is always going to have a lot of inappropriate content, if you’re looking for it. The new guidelines will help, but online activity is almost impossible to monitor and moderate entirely.

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Users can intentionally create servers/groups in order to be private and at times, inappropriate with each other. Discord is now starting to moderate and review servers, but read this App Store quote from a parent:

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“Our son was exposed to explicit sexual content, including videos, pictures, chats and video chats. There are also groups that are not gaming related and may have negative impacts on your children. Again, access to adult orientated topics. Many of the messages were from people seeking help, talking about suicide, doing drugs, cutting etc. I have no idea how old any of the other discord users are since I cannot view much detail in their profiles… I do not recommend this app for anyone who is not an adult.”

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Discord is a mature environment. Please proceed with caution. If your child sees horrible content on Discord or anywhere else, we have specific steps that might help: My Kid is Caught Up in Porn or Sexting. Now What?

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Other Information About Discord:

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GIFs, emojis, and images are easy to share. The interaction with images that could be sexual in nature would stem from the user and the user’s connections, which are able to be limited.

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Discord NITRO. This is a $9.99/month ($99.99/year) subscription that gives gamers extra perks, like a unique Discord tag (identifying number), animated avatar, higher quality screen share, larger file sharing, custom animated emojis and more.

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NITRO Basic. In October of 2022, Discord launched NITRO Basic, which gives users some of the same perks as the normal NITRO. However, Basic costs only $2.99 a month.Game Streaming. Users can stream games directly to the server they are on. The feature is called ‘Go Live’ and is an extension of their video chat and screen share feature that was introduced years ago.

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Server Video. This drop-in, drop-out video chat is similar to Houseparty. Users can see when others are active in the server’s voice chat room, and can simply join as well as enable their video.

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Clyde. Discord’s own AI chatbot is powered by Midjourney’s image generator and OpenAI’s (ChatGPT) technology. This chatbot is super-charged with artificially intelligent language parsing capabilities. So powerful in fact, that Discord removed aspects of their privacy policy after launching Clyde, but have since added them back. While Discord has stated that “Clyde does not record, store or use any voice or video call data from users,” AI programs still rely on your data to keep improving and functioning. Clyde can do all the chatbot things such as answering questions, finding GIFs, continuing in conversations, and recommending playlists.

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AutoMod. This is another AI feature within Discord, it can block content that breaks a server’s rules and can also summarize large streams of messages with “Conversation Summaries.” Discord said that OpenAI is not allowed to use Discord for data training purposes, and that Clyde can only access messages when interacted with directly. However, that guarantee was not made for AutoMod AI or the Conversation Summaries. While this sounds helpful and fun for Discord users, it could also be a major privacy concern…

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How to Make Discord Safer:

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Regardless of the app, three actions mitigate the risks we’ve shared. We teach these actions in our parent presentations:

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1. Require approval for all app downloads.
2. Follow the 7-Day Rule
3. Enable in-app controls and settings

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We explain each of them briefly below. If you’ve already set up approvals for downloads and have used the app, please skip to the In-App Controls & Settings.

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Require Approval for App Downloads

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You can control app stores by requiring permission for apps to be downloaded. This is ensures your child doesn’t have access to an app without your knowledge. Here are the steps (for Apple and Android users):

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For Apple Devices:

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To require permission to download an app, you’ll need to set up Screen Time and Family Sharing (Apple’s Parental Controls). We explain this process step-by-step in our Complete iOS Guide (click here).  

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Once Screen Time and Family Sharing are established, here’s how to require permission to download apps on an Apple device:

1. Go to your Settings app.
2. Select your Family.
3. Select the person you want to apply this setting to.
4. Scroll down to “Ask to Buy” and enable.

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For Android Devices:

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You’ll have to use Family Link (Android’s parental controls) to ensure you retain control over what apps are downloaded. We explain this process step-by-step in our Android Guide (click here).

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Once Family Link is established, here’s how to require permission to download apps on an Android device:

1. Go to the Family Link App
2. Select the person you want to apply this setting to.
3. Select “Google Play Store”
4. Select “Purchases & download approval” and set it to “All Content.”

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Follow the 7-Day Rule

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This is our tried-and-true method of determining whether a specific app is safe for your specific child.

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Before you let your child use it, download the app and use it for 7 days.

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Create an account with your child’s age and gender and use it for 7 days. Play through a few levels, review the ads, see if anyone can chat with you, and poke around like a curious child.

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After a week, ask yourself, “Do I want my child to experience what I did?”  Even if you decide to allow them to download the app, now you have a basis for curious conversations about the app when you check in.

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Enable In-App Controls & Settings

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Does Discord have Parental Controls?

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Yes, and they are adding more controls and default safety settings for teen users. Here's what they will be adding in March of 2026:

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These steps are good for the safety of teens. Some are rather concerned about providing an ID for age verification, especially since adults will have to provide government ID to prove their age. A Teen Council sounds like a great idea, we will have to wait and see how effective it is in making Discord a safer place.

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Remember, Discord didn't make any real changes for parental controls until after being on NCOSE’s “Dirty Dozen” list for 3 years in a row. In 2025, They added the Family Center with Parental Controls, which specifically restricted AI generated CSAM, and much more. To see all the detailed changes, click here.

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Bottom Line: Is Discord Safe for Kids?

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The new age verification could make a difference when it launches in March. For now, it still feels like a high school level app – the 17+ rating is accurate.

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There are always risks, especially when direct messaging options are available. Discord can be a great experience that bonds friends together, and it can also be a terrible place that’s led to kidnapping, grooming, and sexual abuse. This kind of app can foster an environment of secrets, if users are not cautious. And whether you’re 14 or 40, there’s no such thing as a good digital secret.

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If appropriate security measures are not taken when creating a group chat or the person is not discerning when joining a channel, there can be privacy risks. Conversations surrounding the reason for use and the types of chat rooms being used and accessed, as well as the types of servers your child would create, should be foundational when deciding if you let your teen use this app. Please, be careful.

What if I have more questions? How can I stay up to date?

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Two actions you can take!

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1. Subscribe to our tech trends newsletter, the PYE Download. About every 3 weeks, we’ll share what’s new, what the PYE team is up to, and a message from Chris.
2. Ask your questions in our private parent community called The Table! It’s not another Facebook group. No ads, no algorithms, no asterisks. Just honest, critical conversations and deep learning! For parents who want to “go slow” together. Become a member today!

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