Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has sued Discord, alleging the chat platform marketed itself to families as safe for children while failing to verify users’ ages, shield minors from strangers or keep predators off the service.
The complaint accuses Discord of violating the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and the state’s law protecting children in online spaces, and brings additional claims for negligence, negligent misrepresentation and public nuisance. According to the attorney general’s office, Discord has not required age verification, and adults can pose as children “with nothing more than an email address and a birthday.” The state also alleges that Discord’s default settings for years allowed strangers to send children friend requests and messages.
Florida is asking the court to permanently bar Discord from the practices described in the complaint, including “operating without real age verification and collecting children’s data without parental consent.” It seeks civil penalties of up to $10,000 per willful violation of the deceptive practices law and up to $50,000 per violation of the children’s online protection law, rising to $150,000 where Discord had actual knowledge that a Florida user was under 18. The state also wants restitution, damages and the cost of abating the alleged public nuisance.
The attorney general’s office said Discord has more than 200 million monthly users worldwide and reported about 2.7 million monthly active U.S. users under 18 as of February 2024. The complaint cites Florida criminal cases, including one in which a 60-year-old man posed as a 14-year-old boy and contacted nearly 300 minors on the platform. In August, the Brazilian government sued Discord for $97 million, saying its age verification and user protection mechanisms still had flaws.
The suit follows an investigation and subpoena that Uthmeier’s office issued to Discord in March. On September 22, Discord announced new teen safety settings and began rolling out a revised global age-assurance system that estimates most users’ age groups from account signals and offers verification options for others. Florida’s lawsuit alleges those changes are “too little, too late.”
“Discord told parents that safety is at the core of everything they do. That was false,” Uthmeier said. “It’s time for this app to get serious about protecting our children or face serious consequences.”
Sources: Florida Office of the Attorney General, First Coast News
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
