Discord
Discord is an instant messaging and VoIP social platform which allows communication through voice calls, video calls, text messaging, and media and files. Communication can be private or take place in virtual communities called "servers".[note 2] A server is a collection of persistent chat rooms and voice channels which can be accessed via invite links. Discord runs on Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, iPadOS, Linux, and in web browsers. As of 2024, the service has about 150 million monthly active users and 19 million weekly active servers.[8] It is primarily used by gamers, although the share of users interested in other topics is growing.[9][10] As of March 2024, Discord is the 30th most visited website in the world with 22.98% of its traffic coming from the United States.[11][12]
This article is about Internet communication software. For the Greek and Roman goddess, see Eris (mythology). For other uses, see Discord (disambiguation).Developer(s)
Discord Inc.[note 1]
May 13, 2015
- Web client: Electron
- Mobile client: React Native
- Server: Bespoke, purpose-built
30 languages
VoIP communications, instant messaging, videoconferences, content delivery, and social media
Monetization
While the software itself comes at no cost, the developers investigated ways to monetize it, with potential options including paid customization options such as emoji or stickers.[18]
In January 2017, the first paid subscription and features were released with "Discord Nitro Classic" (originally released as "Discord Nitro"). For a monthly subscription fee of $4.99, users can get an animated avatar, use custom and/or animated[96] emojis across all servers (non-Nitro users can only use custom emoji on the server they were added to), an increased maximum file size on file uploads (from 8 MB to 50 MB), the ability to screen share in higher resolutions, the ability to choose their own discriminator (from #0001 to #9999) and a unique profile badge.[97]
In October 2018, "Discord Nitro" was renamed "Discord Nitro Classic" with the introduction of the new "Discord Nitro", which cost $9.99 and included access to free games through the Discord game store. Monthly subscribers of Discord Nitro Classic at the time of the introduction of the Discord games store were gifted with Discord Nitro, lasting until January 1, 2020, and yearly subscribers of Discord Nitro Classic were gifted with Discord Nitro until January 1, 2021.[75]
In October 2019, Discord ended their free game service with Nitro.[80]
In June 2019, Discord introduced Server Boosts, a way to benefit specific servers by purchasing a "boost" for it, with enough boosts granting various benefits for the users in that particular server. Each boost is a subscription costing $4.99 a month. For example, if a server maintains 2 boosts, it unlocks perks such as a higher maximum audio quality in voice channels and the ability to use an animated server icon. Users with Discord Nitro or Discord Nitro Classic have a 30% discount on server boost costs, with Nitro subscribers specifically also getting 2 free server boosts.[98][99]
Discord began testing digital stickers on its platform in October 2020 for users in Canada. Most stickers cost between $1.50 and $2.25 and are part of Discord's monetization strategy. Discord Nitro subscribers received a free "What's Up Wumpus" sticker pack focused on Discord's mascot, Wumpus.[100] In May 2023, Discord made most stickers free to all users.
In October 2022, the "Discord Nitro Classic" subscription tier was replaced by a $2.99 "Discord Nitro Basic", which features a subset of features from the $9.99 "Nitro" tier.[101]
Discord added Avatar Decorations and Profile Themes in October 2023. Users can purchase animated decorations for their profiles from Discord's Shop.[102][103]
Another way Discord makes money is through a 10% commission as the distribution fee from all games sold through game developers' verified servers.[104]
Reception
By January 2016, Hammer & Chisel reported Discord had been used by 3 million people, with growth of 1 million per month, reaching 11 million users in July that year.[22][105] By December 2016, the company reported it had 25 million users worldwide.[81] By the end of 2017, the service had drawn nearly 90 million users, with roughly 1.5 million new users each week.[106] With the service's third anniversary, Discord stated that it had 130 million unique registered users.[107][108] The company observed that while the bulk of its servers are used for gaming-related purposes, a small number have been created by users for non-gaming activities, like stock trading, fantasy football, and other shared interest groups.[60]
In May 2016, one year after the software's release, Tom Marks, writing for PC Gamer, described Discord as the best VoIP service available.[19] Lifehacker has praised Discord's interface, ease of use, and platform compatibility.[109]
In 2021, Discord had at least 350 million registered users across its web and mobile platforms.[110] It was used by 56 million people every month, sending a total of 25 billion messages per month.[111] By June 2020, the company reported it had 100 million active users each month.[27] As of 2021, the service has over 140 million monthly active users.[110]
Criticisms and controversies
Cyberbullying and moderation
Discord has had problems with hostile behavior and abuse within chats, with some communities of chat servers being "raided" (the taking over of a server by a large number of users) by other communities. This includes flooding chats with controversial topics related to race, religion, politics, and pornography.[112] Discord has stated that it has plans to implement changes that would "rid the platform of the issue".[113]
Discord has a Trust and Safety department, where they respond to user reports.[60][106] However, because Discord is centered around private communities, it is difficult to research on its effectiveness.[114] A study published in New Media & Society criticized Discord's offloading of server search functions to unmoderated third-party apps, saying that it facilitates hateful communities to find new audience.[114]
In January 2018, The Daily Beast reported that it found several Discord servers that were specifically engaged in distributing revenge porn and facilitating real-world harassment of the victims of these images and videos. Such actions are against Discord's terms of service and Discord shut down servers and banned users identified from these servers.[115]
Use by extremist users and groups
Discord gained popularity with the alt-right due to the pseudonymity and privacy offered by Discord's service. Analyst Keegan Hankes from the Southern Poverty Law Center stated, "It's pretty unavoidable to be a leader in this [alt-right] movement without participating in Discord."[116][117] Citron stated that servers found to be engaged in illegal activities or violations of the terms of service would be shut down, but would not disclose any examples.[118]
Following the violent events that occurred during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12, 2017, it was found that Discord had been used to plan and organize the white nationalist rally. This included participation by Richard Spencer and Andrew Anglin, high-level figures in the movement.[116] Discord responded by closing servers that supported the alt-right and far-right, and banning users who had participated.[119] Discord's executives condemned "white supremacy" and "neo-Nazism", and said that these groups "are not welcome on Discord".[116] Discord has worked with the Southern Poverty Law Center to identify hateful groups using Discord and ban those groups from the service.[120] Since then, several neo-Nazi and alt-right servers have been shut down by Discord, including those operated by neo-Nazi terrorist group Atomwaffen Division, Nordic Resistance Movement, Iron March, and European Domas.[121]
In March 2019, the media collective Unicorn Riot published the contents of a Discord server used by several members of the white nationalist group Identity Evropa who were also members of the United States Armed Forces.[122] Unicorn Riot has since published member lists and contents of several dozen servers connected to alt-right, white supremacist, and other such movements.
In January 2021, two days after the U.S. Capitol attack, Discord deleted the pro-Donald Trump server The Donald, "due to its overt connection to an online forum used to incite violence, plan an armed insurrection in the United States, and spread harmful misinformation related to 2020 U.S. election fraud", while denying that the server had any direct connection to the attack on the Capitol building. The server had been used by former members of the r/The_Donald subreddit, which Reddit had deleted several months previously.[123]
In January 2022, the British anti-disinformation organization Logically reported that Holocaust denial, neo-Nazism and other forms of hate speech were flourishing on the Discord and Telegram groups of the German website Disclose.tv.[124][125]
In May 2022, Payton S. Gendron was named as the suspect in a race-driven mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, that killed ten people. It was reported that Gendron used a private Discord server as a diary for weeks as he prepared for the attack. Approximately 30 minutes before the shooting, several users were invited by Gendron to view the server and read the messages. The messages were later published on 4chan. Discord told the press that the server was deleted by moderators shortly after the shooting.[126] The New York state attorney general's office announced an investigation of Discord among other online services in the wake of the shooting to determine if they had taken enough steps to prevent such content from being broadcast on their services, with which Discord said they would comply.[127]
Child grooming and safety
CNN has reported that Discord has had problems with sexual exploitation of children and young teenagers on its platform.[43]
In July 2018, Discord updated its terms of service to ban drawn pornography with underage subjects.[128] Some Discord users subsequently criticized the moderation staff for selectively allowing "cub" content, or underage pornographic furry artwork, under the same guidelines. The staff held that "cub porn" was separate from lolicon and shotacon, being "allowable as long as it is tagged properly".[128] After numerous complaints from the community, Discord amended its community guidelines in February 2019 to include "non-humanoid animals and mythological creatures as long as they appear to be underage" in its list of disallowed categories, in addition to announcing periodic transparency reports to better communicate with users.[129]
In June 2023, NBC News reported that they had identified 35 cases of adults being charged with "kidnapping, grooming, or sexual assault" that allegedly involved the platform. They additionally discovered 165 cases of prosecution for the sharing of child sexual exploitation material.[130]
In March 2024, a joint investigation by The Washington Post, Wired, Der Spiegel and Recorder outlined the extensive child grooming, sexual abuse and murder conducted by a group known as 764 on Discord. The investigation linked 764 and its associated groups and servers to cases in Germany, United States and Romania, going as far back as April 2021. Discord's representative stated that the service filed hundreds of reports, in addition to removing over 34,000 accounts associated with the group.[131]
Bans
On January 27, 2021, Discord banned the r/WallStreetBets' server during the GameStop short squeeze, citing "hateful and discriminatory content", which users found contentious.[132] One day later, Discord allowed another server to be created and began assisting with moderation on it.[133]
