Young users of the popular app Discord are vulnerable to child predators because the online platform has prioritized its own growth over safety, according to a lawsuit filed by Nevada’s attorney general.
Aaron Ford on Wednesday announced he had filed a public health hazard and deceptive trade practices lawsuit against Discord, an online social messaging and video game platform that is headquartered in San Francisco.
“Discord is the go-to chat option for child abusers, including in Nevada,” Ford said in a news release. “If a platform is marketed as a fun place for kids to game and chat with each other, it is the responsibility of that platform to not let adults pretend to be children and create an unsafe space for youth.”
A Discord spokesperson disputed the allegations made in the lawsuit.
“The lawsuit’s characterization of Discord does not reflect the platform we have built or the investments we have made in user safety,” the spokesperson said in an email.
As part of an 81-page complaint filed in District Court on Tuesday, the lawsuit alleges, in part, that its popularity with minors also makes it popular with a “much more dangerous cohort: child predators.”
Those predators, the lawsuit alleges, seek to groom and exploit children on the platform. Discord has prioritized growth over safety features that it knows would make the platform safer, the suit alleges.
The app does not have an age verification feature and does not limit online interactions between children and adult strangers, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit asks for punitive damages, along with civil penalties of up to $25,000 for “each violation of the Nevada Deceptive Trade Practices Act directed toward a minor person,” according to the complaint.
Discord, which has about 90 million daily users worldwide, does have user safeguards in place, the spokesperson said.
“Our safety systems combine advanced technology and human-led investigations, alongside user reports to help identify accounts or spaces engaged in harmful activity, including exploitative and child sexual abuse materials,” the spokesperson said, adding that Discord looks forward to “collaborating with Nevada in working toward a safer online experience for all users on Discord and across the internet.”
Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X.