Florida’s Attorney General Sued Discord, Saying Strangers Could Message Children for Years, and Is Seeking Up to $150,000 for Each Violation Involving a Known Minor

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has taken Discord, the chat and voice app popular with gamers and teenagers, to court over how it protects children. In a complaint filed Oct. 15 in Glades County, his office alleges that for years Discord’s default settings let strangers send children friend requests and direct messages, and it is seeking up to $150,000 for each violation of a state child-protection law where the company allegedly knew the user was under 18, News4JAX reported.

The claims have not been proven in court. Discord disputes the state’s description of its platform.

What Florida’s complaint alleges

The 65-page lawsuit accuses Discord of marketing itself as safe for children while doing too little to keep adults away from them, according to Courthouse News Service. Among the allegations described in coverage of the filing:

• Registration asks for an email address and a date of birth but does not verify a user’s age.
• Default settings allowed strangers to send children friend requests and direct messages for years.
• Discord does not scan all private chats for violations of its own rules.
• Adults have used the platform to contact and groom minors in Florida, with the complaint citing cases that include a man who allegedly posed as a teenager to contact nearly 300 minors.

According to News4JAX, the complaint cites Discord’s own figure of about 2.7 million monthly U.S. users under 18 as of February 2024, out of more than 200 million monthly users worldwide. It also notes that Discord sells paid Nitro subscriptions to Florida consumers, including children.

The suit brings five claims: violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and of the state’s online protection law for minors, plus negligence, negligent misrepresentation and public nuisance.

Announcing the case at a press conference in Tampa, Uthmeier said his office has arrested more than 2,100 child predators in Florida since he took office, and that “again and again” the trail in those cases leads back to Discord.

Where the $150,000 figure comes from

The dollar amounts in the lawsuit are maximums the state is asking a judge to impose, not fines that have been ordered.

The largest figure is tied to a Florida law on how online platforms treat children. Under section 501.1735 of the Florida Statutes, the state’s Department of Legal Affairs can seek a civil penalty of up to $50,000 per violation, and that penalty can be tripled when the violation involves a Florida child the platform actually knows is under 18. Three times $50,000 is the $150,000 ceiling in the state’s request.

That law bars platforms likely to be used mostly by children from, among other things, processing a child’s personal information when the company knows or willfully disregards a risk of substantial harm, and from using design tricks known as dark patterns to push children into giving up privacy protections.

The state is also seeking up to $10,000 per willful violation of the deceptive trade practices law, the maximum allowed under section 501.2075. On top of the penalties, the suit asks for court orders that would bar Discord from marketing itself as safe without real age verification, along with restitution and other damages.

Florida opened its investigation in March, issuing subpoenas about marketing, age verification, content moderation and parental controls, according to Courthouse News. The outlet reported that Texas and Nevada have also sued Discord over child protections, and that Uthmeier has separately sued Snapchat, TikTok, Meta and Roblox. Other states are pressing gaming platforms as well; in Arizona, Attorney General Kris Mayes asked a court to force Roblox to turn over child-safety records.

Discord’s response and its newer teen settings

Discord told Courthouse News that the lawsuit’s characterization does not reflect the platform it has built or its investments in user safety. The company said it has no algorithmic feeds, infinite scroll or public likes that push content to mass audiences, and that it recently introduced a platform-wide age-appropriate experience. It said it has consistently worked with Florida law enforcement.

The company announced new teen safety settings on Sept. 22, months after Florida’s investigation began. The state argues those changes came too late and do not go far enough, according to News4JAX. Uthmeier acknowledged at the press conference that Discord has made some positive changes, but said they are not enough.

What Discord’s Family Center shows parents

While the case moves through court, the parental tool Discord points families to is its Family Center. According to Discord, a connected parent or other trusted adult can see:

• Friends a teen has recently added, with their names and avatars.
• Servers the teen has joined or taken part in, including how many members they have.
• Users the teen has messaged or called in direct or group chats, with the number of mutual friends.

Family Center also sends weekly email summaries and includes tools to manage some safety and privacy settings on a teen’s account, the company says. It does not show the contents of private messages, and it does not let a parent remove a teen from a server or a direct-message conversation.

Discord says any trusted adult family member, such as a grandparent, aunt or older sibling, can be connected, not only a parent. The company also says all users can report content, block other users and limit who can send them friend requests, and it recommends that teens and guardians review the default safety settings together. Those default settings are at the center of Florida’s lawsuit.

For households where children split their time between chat apps and games, similar controls are covered in a step-by-step guide to Roblox safety settings.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Ebyabe – CC BY-SA 3.0/Wikimedia Commons