Update July 2023:
Discord has now integrated something that they call “Family Center” into their platform that is an “opt-in” tool that will allow parents and caregivers to stay informed about their child’s activity while on Discord. With Family Center it will allow a parent or caregiver to:
- See recently added friends – both names and avatars
- What servers you child has joined or participated in – including names, icons, and member counts
- Users messaged or called in direct or group chats – including names, avatars, and times of last message or call
However, it is important to note that this opt-in tool WILL NOT allow you to see what your teen writes or says is any messaging or calls.
Here’s a link from Discord that provides more information on their Family Center tool https://discord.com/blog/discord-family-center-stay-connected-with-your-teen
Discord debuted in 2015, and over the past eight years has matured into a free cross-platform voice, video, and chat app which has blown up in popularity with our youth (1) with over 150 million users worldwide. Despite initially gaining popularity among young gamers who appreciated the opportunity to interact with each other during gameplay, this platform has now gained traction beyond the gaming community. People can create servers to discuss various topics, including art, mental health support, family projects, friend groups, school study groups, and even sensitive subjects such as human sexuality and pornography. Discord was originally age rated for youth 13+, but it has now been updated to 17yrs+.
Discord allows its users to communicate privately through text, voice, or video with individuals or with a larger group of members. The platform doesn’t typically monitor these messages, unless any concerns arise and are brought to Discord’s attention through their reporting process (2). It’s worth noting that Discord doesn’t provide end-to-end encryption, which means that messages aren’t protected by the digital scrambling technology that only allows the sender and recipient to read them. This means that users need to understand that whatever they post on Discord can become public, permanent, searchable, copiable, searchable, and exploitable.
Why is Discord creating such a following with our youth?
- Youth love the fact that conversations are driven primarily by shared interests in a community-type environment.
- Discord presently does not have any formal parent controls. However, there are things that parents can do to help minimize risks (3)
- When compared to other apps like TikTok – there is no algorithm deciding what you should see, no endless scrolling, no news feed, minimal advertising, and no counting likes.
Once the app is downloaded to a phone, computer, or even a gaming console (Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch), it allows the user to join other public or private Discord servers to interact with other users publicly or with one another privately via direct messaging. Discord servers are the hubs for communities, typically centered around a particular topic or game. Upon registration, anyone can create a server, which can either be by invite-only or public for anyone to join.
Within servers, there are voice channels and text channels, and some have bots that assist with moderation, welcoming new members, and overall community management. Unfortunately, Discord doesn’t offer a way to search for servers within the app, so users must either be invited directly or discover them through external sources.”
Discord also allows for a lot of customizable features that provide a user with the ability to personalize their profile, server, and chat experience. Users can change their usernames, profile pictures, and even customize their servers with different channels and emojis.
At the time of writing this article, there were over 6.7 million active servers on Discord, with 150 million active monthly users and over 300 million registered accounts. It is because of this fact that many teens are turning to Discord as a replacement for other messaging services like WhatsApp or even Snapchat. In fact, there is a lot of chatter among youth right now that because Snapchat has recently created some basic parental overwatch options, Discord may be the “go-to” app to communicate with one another online without parents seeing what they are doing, saying, or who they are communicating with. As one can appreciate, for younger teens this could become problematic when it comes to those who wish to connect with our kids for the purpose of predation and exploitation via the grooming process.
When it comes to parental controls, Discord is lacking greatly. If the child actually registers with their real age, Discord by default will prevent those under the age of 17yrs from joining or participating in a server whose content is “NSFW” (Not Safe For Work) – in other words, adult content such as nudity, pornography, violence, and other types of content that should only be viewed by an adult. It is because of this fact that youth will lie about their age upon signing up with Discord so that they can have full access to all servers.
According to Discord’s 2022 “Transparency Report” (4)
- 33,232 servers were removed from the platform, with 93.5% of the removals being related to Child Safety.
- 11,589 accounts were reported to the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children as well as 69 additional “high-harm grooming or endangerment” reports.
- 37,102 accounts were disabled and 17,426 servers were removed for Child Safety violations.
- 15,963 accounts were disabled and removed 1,037 servers for exploitive and unsolicited content.
- 4,505 accounts and 620 servers were removed for hateful conduct
- 1,320 accounts and 545 servers were removed for self-harm concerns
- 7,223 accounts and 829 servers were removed for violent extremism
It is important to note that Discord’s appeal lies in its pre-teen and teen user base, decentralized framework, and versatile multimedia communication tools. Unfortunately, these very aspects, combined with its surge in popularity, have also made it an enticing platform for individuals seeking to exploit children online. Wherever youth gather online, there will be those who want to prey upon their innocence for sexual predation and exploitation – the more popular a site is with youth, the bigger the risk that there will be those who wish to prey upon our kiddos. As an example here’s a message that was posted on Discord:
“Hiii, cute discord kitten here (ノ▽〃). i am looking for a cute discord mod to take care of me. you must have be a mod on at least 1 (one) server, with at least 2000 (2k) members. you must taller than me, and built like you haven’t eaten or slept in weeks (ᗒᗨᗕ). i require that you message me at least 50 (fifty) messages a day, and you cant talk to other girls. i may eventually send a photograph of my thighs, but right now i’m very shy and self-conscious and it may take a while for me to feel confident enough (｡•́︿•̀｡). we must call for a total of at least (four) 4 hours per every two days. i will likely be talking only through text as i am very insecure regarding my voice and i feel very embarrassed when i speak. you must still talk vocally, i will just be replying through text. you cannot get mad when i talk to other men, and i get very jealous (•ˋ _ ˊ•). my preferred messaging/sexting hours are 12:01 am through 11:59 pm, but adjustments can be made if needed. i am a very bad little kitten with many fetishes; e.g. piss, blood, weapons, breeding, restraints. and as such i need someone who is willing to appeal to these fetishes to give me maximum sexual pleasure. you must refer to me as “baby, kitten, kitty, princess, or mistress” (︶ω︶). i will refer to you as “stupid, idiot, pervert, and creep”. usage of these names is absolutely necessary for me to be sexually gratified to the fullest (i cannot get off without them)“
PARENTING TIP – Remember, there is no age-verfication of Discord. Ensuring that your child signs up with their true date of birth is important to minimize (not completely remove) the risks of seeing or participating in content that is NSFW. Discord by design makes it hard to change one’s date of birth, although it can be done, the process requires submitting a support request directly to Discord (5) thus why registering with a youth’s real date of birth is so important. Here are some of the more important privacy and security settings that we recommend
- SAFER DIRECT MESSAGING: To access the privacy and safety settings on Discord, go to the navigation list located on the left side of the screen and select the “Privacy & Safety” option. Once you’re in this section, you’ll find three options under the “Safe Direct Messaging” heading. To enable automatic scanning of all direct messages and deletion of messages containing explicit images, click the “Keep me safe” option. However, please keep in mind that there is no filter available for explicit text.
- DISABLE MESSAGE REQUESTS FROM UNKNOWN SERVER MEMBERS: click on the “TURN OFF” option next to “Enable message requests from server members you may not know”. When prompted with a pop-up notification asking if you want to apply this change to all your existing servers, select “Yes”. Similarly, to prevent direct messages from server members, click on the “TURN OFF” option next to “Allow direct messages from server members”. When prompted with a pop-up notification asking if you want to apply this change to all your existing servers, select “Yes”.
- TO MODIFY FRIENDS REQUESTS, navigate to the left side of the screen and click on “Friend Requests” in the navigation list. Under the “Who can add you as a friend” section, it is recommended to turn off all three settings to prevent people your teen does not know from adding them as a friend. To do this, turn off the “Everyone” option, which allows anyone using the app to add your teen as a friend. Similarly, turn off “Friends of Friends,”which only allows friends of your teen’s current connections to add them as a friend. Finally, turn off “Server Members,” which allows any user within the same server as your teen to add them as a friend.
- TO ADJUST ACTIVITY SETTINGS AND WHO CAN JOIN: navigate to the left side of the screen and click on “Activity Settings” in the navigation list. Then select “Activity Privacy.” To hide your status (whether you’re online or offline) during public Stage events, turn off the option labeled “Display current activity as a status message.” To prevent friends from automatically joining your game, turn off the option labeled “Allow friends to join your game.” When this setting is turned off, your friends will have to send a request to join your game. Similarly, to prevent voice channel participants from joining your game automatically, turn off the option labeled “Allow voice channel participants to join your game.” When this setting is turned off, your friends will have to send a request to join your game.
Much like other social media platforms, such as Snapchat (6), Discord is also integrating AI technology into their platform as well. Known as Clyde AI, Discord’s virtual assistant and moderator plays a vital role in creating a safe and friendly environment for users. The bot performs various tasks, including sending welcome messages to new users, moderating chats and channels, sending reminders, and managing roles and permissions. It also adds a fun and quirky element to the platform with its unique sense of humor.
Clyde’s ability to detect violations of the server’s rules and remove inappropriate content, as well as its capacity to send reminders and manage roles, make it an essential part of the Discord experience. With Clyde’s help, users can communicate and connect with each other in a secure and enjoyable environment.
However, Discord is looking to supercharge its Clyde Al by Integrating it with ChatGPT (7). Clyde will be able to answer questions and participate in conversations with users, as well as creating new threads in channels to facilitate conversations between groups of friends. Initially, the Clyde chatbot will be free for Discord users during a public experiment in a very limited number of servers with Discord alpha users. Eventually, Discord admins will be able to add Clyde to servers to allow users to summon it into conversations and respond to queries. Discord is planning to make this a fundamental part of its chat and communities app, but there’s lots of testing, learning, and beta testing ahead before it’s ready to roll out to all Discord users.
Discord is also experimenting with AI-generated conversation summaries. It’s an opt-in experience (which is a good thing) within a server that’s not turned on by default and will allow Discord users to catch up on conversations they might have missed. This makes particular sense for Discord, where tight-knit communities keep conversations rolling endlessly across time zones, making it harder — but also more important — for users to catch up with missed chat. The ability for Discord admins to leverage AI technology to moderate servers is also in the works. The autonomous moderation tool, AutoMod (8), which Discord rolled out last year to fight spam and slurs, will soon be upgraded to a new AI-powered version. Discord will be using OpenAI’s language models to allow AutoMod to more accurately process the context of a message and capture where there’s clear intent to break server rules. If this is attainable, this would also be a good thing.
However, there are some potential risks to this AI-powered chatbot. Clyde is currently based on the same technology that powers ChatGPT, which we have already seen generate false information that we spoke about here (9). Microsoft’s new Bing AI chatbot has also shown what can happen when a tech company rolls out this emerging AI technology to the masses too fast and too soon (10).
The presence of an AI-powered Discord chatbot in servers that often include very tech-savvy and younger users could present some challenges to Discord’s AI ambitions. There will be some who will ignore the warning and attempt to jailbreak the Discord chatbot to say bad things. Discord is aware of this, and is starting off slow by rolling it out to some alpha users and asking them for feedback that allows them to tweak and tune the Clyde AI models.
Although Discord is free, they also have a “premium service” known as Discord Nitro with two specific tiers – #1 Nitro Basic – 4.99 USD per month or $49.99 USD per year, or #2 Discord Nitro, $9.99 USD per month or $99.99 USD per year. Nitro is a premium subscription service that offers a variety of additional features and perks beyond the free version of the Discord app (11). Some of the key benefits of Discord Nitro include:
- Custom Discord Tags: Discord Nitro subscribers can customize their Discord username with a unique 4-digit code, allowing them to stand out from other users.
- Higher Quality Voice and Video: Nitro offers higher-quality voice and video chat compared to the free version of the app. Yes, a user can drop in and out of both video and audio chats on the discord platform
- Larger File Uploads: Nitro subscribers can upload larger files to Discord, with a maximum file size of 100 MB (compared to the 8 MB limit for free users).
- Server Boosting: Nitro subscribers can “boost” servers they belong to, which provides a variety of perks for the server owner and members, such as improved server audio quality and increased server emojis.
- Exclusive Content: Nitro subscribers have access to a variety of exclusive content, such as custom emojis and GIFs, as well as access to a rotating selection of free games.
Our Final Thoughts:
#1 – For older digitally mature teens (remember the app is rated 17+), Discord is a great way to create community with friends when it comes to gaming and other online activities. However, this is not an app that we would recommend for those youth who are in elementary or middle school without direct parent/caregiver supervision, or for any youth who does not show good digital literacy/maturity.
#2 – For older teens, we would recommend that they create their own Discord server where only friends who they know and trust are allowed into their server to participate in community interactions (12). Just remember, even though your child may have a private server, there is nothing to prevent them from searching out and joining other servers including adult-oriented Discord servers.
#3 – Make sure when creating a Discord account that your child chooses a strong password, enables two-factor-authentication (2FA), uses their correct date of birth, and that Discord’s native privacy & safety settings are engaged (13)
#4 – Encourage your child to follow good digital literacy, safety, security, and privacy practices while on the platform.
There is no disputing that Discord has become a popular platform for teens to stay connected with friends and unwind. However, it is important to remember that Discord is an open and free platform and therefore poses certain risks, especially when it comes to online predation and exploitation – particularly for younger users.
As we always like to say, it’s not the app, it’s how the app is used that can make it good or bad!
Digital Food For Thought
The White Hatter
References:
- https://discord.com
- https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000291932-How-to-Contact-Discord-Safety
- https://www.howtogeek.com/664137/how-to-enable-parental-controls-in-discord/
- https://discord.com/blog/discord-transparency-report-q4-2022
- https://techguided.com/how-to-change-your-age-birthday-on-discord/
- https://thewhitehatter.ca/blog/exploring-snapchats-my-ai-feature-and-the-concerns-surrounding-its-launch/
- https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/9/23631930/discord-openai-clyde-chatbot-automod-features-ai
- https://discord.com/blog/automod-launch-automatic-community-moderation
- https://thewhitehatter.ca/blog/chatgpt-friend-or-foe-what-parents-educators-need-to-know/
- https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/14/microsoft-bing-ai-made-several-errors-in-launch-demo-last-week-.html
- https://discord.com/nitro
- https://www.alphr.com/how-to-make-a-discord-server/
- https://discord.com/safety/360043857751-Four-steps-to-a-super-safe-account?fbclid=IwAR27ycDLjkjvPlpn5ZwqJ3X-Us6b3WXAE7eu60IOyvC_y9FG9jd-Lv0RBmg
