The dark side of Discord for teens

In recent months, large social media companies have faced renewed scrutiny from lawmakers over the negative impacts their platforms can have on teens. Discord, however, has not been part of that conversation.

But in September, the mother discovered the 16-year-old was also using the audio and chat service to message with someone who appeared from his profile picture to be an older man. The stranger, who said he lived in England, entered a group chat that included her daughter and members of the band, according to the mother. They struck up a friendship in a private thread. He asked for nude pictures; her daughter obliged.

"I went through every chat they ever had but the most disturbing thing, beyond the nudes, was that he asked her to send a picture of our house," said the mother, who, like other parents of young Discord users, asked to remain anonymous, citing concerns about their family's privacy. "My daughter went on Zillow, found our home and sent it, so he knew where she lives. He then asked what American school buses looked like, so she took a photo of her bus and sent it." He then requested pictures of her friends, and she sent those, too.

The mother worried the Discord user was manipulating, tracking and planning to exploit her daughter. After shutting down her daughter's Discord account, an effort she said took six weeks for the company to complete, she installed outdoor security cameras around the home. The mother never reported the incident to Discord, and the conversations are no longer available to flag because the account was deleted. "There's lots of things we should have done in hindsight," she said.

In recent months, large social media companies have faced renewed scrutiny from lawmakers over the negative impacts their platforms can have on teens. Executives from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat's parent company were called to testify before the Senate after leaks from a Facebook whistleblower pointed to Instagram's potential to harm one's mental health and body image, especially among teenage girls.