New Jersey filed a lawsuit against Discord on Thursday, alleging that the social platform recklessly exposed children to “harassment, abuse, and sexual exploitation by predators who lurk on the platform.”
The move makes it the first state to sue Discord. Founded in 2015, Discord is a platform where its millions of users can communicate in chatrooms and direct messages. It shot up in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many users were stuck at home and wanted to connect. Children, in particular, make up a “significant portion” of its global 200 million monthly active user base, per the suit.
The New Jersey complaint alleges that Discord knew its safety features and policies wouldn’t actually protect its young user base and didn’t make changes.
“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,” Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a release announcing the lawsuit. “These deceptive claims regarding its safety settings have allowed Discord to attract a growing number of children to use its application, where they are at risk. We intend to put a stop to this unlawful conduct and hold Discord accountable for the harm it has caused our children.”
Discord, for example, doesn’t allow users under the age of 13. However, the platform only requires users to enter their date of birth when creating an account and uses no other systems to verify age. The suit also alleged the platform made it simple for malicious actors to send children explicit content due to its default safety settings.
“As a result of Discord’s decisions, thousands of users were misled into signing up, believing they or their children would be safe when they were really anything but,” Platkin said in the statement.
The complaint cited a number of instances where adults in New Jersey were accused of using the platform to contact children and attempted to engage in conversation, solicit nude pictures and videos, and engage in sexual performance while video chatting.
Discord, for its part, is reportedly denying the attorney general’s claims. In a statement shared with Fast Company, it said: “Discord is proud of our continuous efforts and investments in features and tools that help make Discord safer. Given our engagement with the Attorney General’s office, we are surprised by the announcement that New Jersey has filed an action against Discord today. We dispute the claims in the lawsuit and look forward to defending the action in court.”
New Jersey has taken part in past lawsuits targeting social media platforms for alleged unlawful contact relating to children. It sued TikTok based on “features that keep children and teens online for ever-increasing amounts of time despite the harms that result” and Meta for similar alleged conduct.
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