Discord sued by state attorney general for inadequate protection of children under 13 from sexual and violent content
The communications app Discord has been sued by the New Jersey Attorney General for misleading users about the harm that might befall children when they used the app and for failing to take measures to protect children.
AG Platkin Sues Messaging App “Discord” for Unlawful Practices That Expose NJ Kids to Child Predators and Violent, Sexual Content - New Jersey Office of Attorney General
NJ sues messaging app Discord for alleged youth endangerment - New Jersey Globe
https://newjerseyglobe.com/judiciary/nj-sues-messaging-app-discord-for-alleged-youth-endangerment/
On April 17, 2025, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the New Jersey Department of Consumer Affairs announced a lawsuit against Discord, alleging that the company 'engaged in deceptive and unfair business practices that misled parents about the effectiveness of its safety controls and concealed the risks children faced when using the application.'
The two issues that Attorney General Platkin and others cited were that Discord's direct message (DM) safety features were not working properly and that the company's age verification was lacking.
From March 28, 2017 to April 22, 2023, Discord had a 'Secure Direct Messaging' option in the 'Privacy and Safety' menu of user settings. This option had three options:
- Scan everyone's DMs
- Scan DMs from non-friends
- Don't scan anyone's DMs
For the majority of the time that Discord offered these options, the default setting for new users was 'Scan DMs from non-friends.'
However, Discord's default settings allowed any user in the same server to send a friend request to a child, meaning that once friends were created, they could exchange DMs that had not been scanned by the settings above, potentially leading to children accepting friend requests from users they did not know or have any connection with, potentially sending or receiving sexually explicit content.
'Discord has represented itself as safe by claiming that its direct messaging features automatically scan and delete messages, which was not true,' Attorney General Platkin and his team wrote.
In addition, Discord is said to have neglected to verify the age of users. Discord's terms of use prohibit registration by anyone under the age of 13, but Discord does not conduct any special age verification, other than requiring users to enter their date of birth when creating an account. Based on this, Attorney General Platkin and others determined that 'Discord could have effectively barred children under the age of 13 if it had made an effort and implemented simple verification measures.'
The day before Attorney General Platkin and others filed their lawsuit, Discord coincidentally began testing age verification, a
According to Attorney General Platkin and others, there have been many cases of children being victimized through Discord, where adults have pretended to be children and contacted other children to send or request the sending of sexual images. Despite Discord's claim that it has a 'strict policy prohibiting use by anyone under the age of 13,' the children who were victimized were apparently under the age of 13.
Discord has violated New Jersey's consumer fraud laws in these two areas, and Attorney General Platkin and others are seeking an injunction to block Discord's use, as well as confiscation of profits earned in New Jersey and providing relief to children.
'Discord promised parents safety, but then deliberately chose to break that promise,' Attorney General Platkin said. 'Thousands of users were misled into joining the app believing they and their children would be safe, only to find that they were not. We will put a stop to this unlawful conduct and hold Discord accountable for the harm it has caused children.'
In response to the lawsuit, a Discord spokesperson issued a statement saying, 'We are surprised by the announcement that a lawsuit has been filed against us. We dispute the allegations in the lawsuit and look forward to defending ourselves in court.'
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