Although initially intended for gamers to communicate online, Discord has gained immense popularity as a communication platform. It is now widely used by various online communities including movie enthusiasts and fitness fanatics. Given how easy it is to join and its global reach, the question now arises: Is Discord Safe?

Well, yes and no. Discord is easy to use and that is what makes the platform so popular. Users can easily join servers and interact via voice, video and chat channels.

As you would expect, users normally join Discord under an alias instead of their real names. This is a great idea if you are hoping to protect your real identity. Although, it does give freedom to those who wish to send out malicious content without any real-world repercussions.

In recent news, Discord servers were used to leak highly classified US files. This sort of incident is not uncommon for social media platforms, with the likes of Whatsapp and Facebook also encountering similar incidents. But, it does raise the question as to whether these sorts of platforms are safe to use.

We are only talking about information leaks here. The anonymous nature of the platform also opens the doors to the potential spread of other inappropriate information like spam, adult-only content and maybe even cyber attacks.

With that being said, Discord does have its own dedicated artificial intelligence to detect abuse, scams and phishing. As well as, specialized moderators who ensure the platform is safe to use.

Can Discord be trusted?

In general, Discord is a relatively safe platform. Something that you should be aware of is that Discord does not use end-to-end encryption.

Although, it does have a transport layer security encryption, (encrypts a message in transit). But that’s it, really. Therefore, if anyone decided to hack Discord they may be able to access your chatrooms and servers.

Final Thoughts

So, is Discord safe? Well, strictly speaking not really. But, it depends on how you plan to use it. The safety of social media platforms, such as Discord, depends heavily on the users and what they decide to do on it.

To protect yourself it’s always a good idea to keep personal information private and to report any malicious or hateful content on the site.

• NOW READ How to get Discord on the PS5

About the Author

Funmi Somoye

Funmi joined PC Guide in November 2022, and was a driving force for the site's ChatGPT coverage. She has a wide knowledge of AI apps, gaming and consumer technology.