New Jersey sues popular messaging platform Discord for allegedly misleading users about safety features
New Jersey is now the first state in the country to sue the online messaging platform Discord.
Attorney General Matthew Platkin accuses Discord of misleading parents about its safety features, leaving children exposed to sexual and violent content.
Discord is popular among gamers, and the attorney general says there are more than 200 million users worldwide. Users can post in chat rooms, which Platkin says are called "servers," or in direct messages.
He said his office has prosecuted several cases in which predators used the platform to prey on children. He also said the organizers of the deadly 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia used the app to discuss their plan, as well as the gunman in the 2022 mass shooting in Buffalo, New York.
"Discord has been at the center of numerous criminal cases involving predators that were found to have used the app to engage in sexual grooming, extortion and exploitation," Platkin said Thursday. "Multiple reports have also described Discord as a breeding ground for hate and extremism, a space where violent attacks are planned and promoted."
He claims the company violated New Jersey's consumer protection laws, in part by failing to enforce its minimum age requirement, which is 13.
"Once my team got a look under the hood of Discord's app, it became clear that acts of violence that Discord enables and the harms that children suffer on their app stem in part from porous security features that Discord knows do not work as promised," he said. "Discord holds itself out to be a company that cares about safety, they've engaged in an extensive PR campaign to that effect. But for years, it has been deceiving young users and their parents about the design and effectiveness of its app's safety features."
The company disputed the allegations, telling CBS News in a statement, "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."
