Discord App Exposes Children to Abuse and Graphic Content, Lawsuit Says

The messaging platform Discord recklessly exposes children to graphic violent content, sexual abuse and exploitation, New Jersey’s attorney general said in a lawsuit filed Thursday.

New Jersey is the first state in the country to file suit against Discord, whose 200 million users can post in chat rooms and exchange direct messages with one another. Founded in 2015 as a chat tool for gamers, it has exploded in popularity in recent years among children, a trend that accelerated at the height of the pandemic.

The app’s popularity and limited safety controls have made its users easy targets for predators, prosecutors said in the suit, which was filed in Superior Court in Essex County.

“Discord markets itself as a safe space for children, despite being fully aware that the application’s misleading safety settings and lax oversight has made it a prime hunting ground for online predators seeking easy access to children,” the attorney general, Matthew J. Platkin, said in a statement announcing the suit.

Discord’s users must be 13 or older, according to the platform’s policies. But the suit says that because Discord accounts are so easy to create, and because users can use pseudonyms, younger children can evade the age restrictions with little difficulty and adults can readily pose as children.

The complaint cites several criminal cases against adults in New Jersey who were accused of using the app to engage in explicit communication with children, solicit and send nude pictures and take part in sexual acts on video chat.