New Jersey prosecutors have filed a lawsuit against Discord, alleging that the messaging platform misled parents about its safety settings and turned a blind eye to explicit content. The lawsuit claims that Discord’s lax controls have made it an easy target for predators, who can use pseudonyms and evade age restrictions.
Discord has 200 million users, many of whom are children, and the company has introduced features to improve safety for younger users. However, critics argue that the platform’s default settings were inadequate, with a feature meant to identify explicit content only applying to non-friend messages between users who didn’t change their settings.
The New Jersey suit is not an isolated incident, as similar cases have been reported in other states and countries. A California man was recently arrested for using Discord to target a 10-year-old girl, and a Michigan man was sentenced to 30 years in prison for advertising “livestreams of children engaging in self-mutilation” on the platform.
Discord’s chief executive has said that he takes the issue seriously, but critics argue that more needs to be done to protect users, particularly children. The lawsuit marks one step towards accountability for platforms like Discord, with advocates hoping for stronger rules and regulations to prevent similar cases in the future.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/nyregion/discord-lawsuit-new-jersey.html