Discord is a wildly popular text, voice, and video chat platform used by over 153 million people each month. But is it safe? This is a question that may particularly concern parents(nueva ventana), thanks to it being the social media platform of choice for gamers, a demographic that tends to skew younger, and therefore may include more people who are potentially vulnerable online.
In this article, we’ll break down what you need to know about keeping yourself or your kids safe on Discord.
What is Discord?
Discord is a “free” social media platform. It started in 2015 as a voice chat app for gamers, but its support for for a wide array of bots, custom emojis, GIFs, and public and private channels (which can be easily administered using customizable roles) has fostered numerous large and enthusiastic online communities — not just for gaming, but also for studying, working, fandoms, and hobbies.
What makes Discord different from most other social media platforms is that you can create or join servers (which are essentially chat rooms), where people communicate in channels about different topics. Each server is controlled by its own admins and moderators, so safety and privacy can vary a lot between communities.
These independent servers are hosted by Discord itself, which provides content moderation tools for server admins, and to reduce spam, harassment, and malicious links on public servers.
Because of its popularity, access to Discord is periodically blocked by authoritarian regimes.
How does Discord keep you safe?
Discord implements a number of measures designed to protect its users.
- Encryption in transit: Text, voice, and chat messages are encrypted between your device and the Discord servers using TLS.
- Audio and voice chats are E2E: End-to-end encryption is provided by Discord’s own open-source DAVE(nueva ventana) protocol.
- Content moderation tools: A wealth of tools as such as auto‑moderation bots, keyword filters, rate limits, and a robust reporting system can help server admins keep their communities safe. Many of these are also deployed by Discord itself on public servers
- Server-level permissions: Granular, role‑based access (such as read/write, voice, admin, etc.) allows server owners to restrict who can post files, invite members, or manage settings.
- Privacy settings: The ability to hide your online status, block DMs from non‑friends, and control who can add you as a friend gives you control over who can can contact you (or your child) directly.
Where Discord can be risky
While Discord isn’t inherently dangerous, the risks depend on how and where you use it:
- Public servers: Anyone can join public servers, and despite Discord’s many content moderation tools, members can still include trolls, scammers, and bots. Unfortunately (and despite an admirably robust hate speech policy(nueva ventana) and a comprehensive warning system(nueva ventana)), large public servers can become breeding grounds for hate speech(nueva ventana) or coordinated community-driven harassment. Links can also lead to phishing sites, malware, and fake giveaways.
- Private servers: These are safer, but only if everyone in the group is trustworthy. Remember, group members can still take export messages and screenshots of what you share.
- Direct message: Discord DMs are a favorite tool for scammers pretending to be friends, moderators, or even Discord staff.
- Targeted ads: Discord was once known for its anti-personalized ads stance, but this changed(nueva ventana) in 2024. Like most “free” social media platforms, it now collects large amounts of metadata, such as who you talk to, when, and what servers you join. By default, it uses this information to target you with personalized ads (although it is possible to to turn off “sponsored content”).
- Your chat data isn’t private: Although chat and video calls are E2EE, your text conversations are not (even on private servers). This means Discord can access them. Discord says the reason for this is that its content moderation tools are incompatible with E2EE.
- Data leaks: Discord has been the victim of numerous data leaks. Most of these involved metadata, tokens, or user‑generated content that was either publicly accessible or exposed through misconfiguration, and no single breach has ever revealed the entire Discord user database en masse. The most recent breach, however, resulted in the theft over 70,000 government-issued IDs(nueva ventana) used for age verification.
How to make using Discord safer
As long as you exercise a little common-sense (such as not opening random links and avoiding posting personal information), Discord is a fairly safe platform. However, there are some tweaks you can do to make the experience even safer:
Most people
1. Use strong authentication
In addition to choosing a strong password(nueva ventana) (or passphrase), go to User Settings → My Account → Password and Authentication and configure two-factor authentication(nueva ventana) (2FA) using an authenticator app (such as Proton Authenticator(nueva ventana) or Proton Pass(nueva ventana)). This will help to protect your data in the event of (another) data breach.
For even stronger 2FA protection, you can register a hardware security key.
2. Lock down your content and social settings
Go to User Settings → Content & Social → Social permissions and turn Direct Messages from other server members off.
Now scroll down to Friend requests and toggle the Everyone and Server members switches off.
3. Protect your privacy
Go to User Settings → Data & Privacy and turn everything off.
It’s also a good idea to use a good VPN to prevent Discord from being able to uniquely identity and track you by your IP address.
Parents
Depending on where you live(nueva ventana), the default Discord age limit is 13. But as age verification relies simply on entering a date of birth, younger children can join Discord quite easily.
In addition to all of the above, go to User Settings → Family Center and connect your Discord account with that of your teen. You can now view their friend list, servers joined or participated in, and who your child has been talking to in direct and group chats. To protect their privacy, however, you can’t see the the contents of their messages.
So… is Discord safe?
Discord is as safe as any major social platform. The real risk isn’t the app itself, it’s the people you interact with and the links you click on. The bottom line is that Discord is as safe as you make it. If you treat it like a public space (even on private servers), it’s absolutely fine for things like casual chats, group study, and gaming.
But for sensitive or private discussions, it’s best to use end-to-end encrypted services such as Proton Mail(nueva ventana), Proton Meet(nueva ventana), or Signal(nueva ventana) where no one but you and the intended recipient can read your messages.
