The Chief of Trust and Safety at Discord made an announcement on Tuesday regarding important changes to the platform’s child safety policies. These modifications specifically address concerns related to teen dating and AI-generated child sexual abuse content. The announcement comes in the wake of an NBC News investigation that closely examined child safety issues on Discord.
Focus on AI-Generated Images
Discord has become a hub for communities engaged in the creation of AI-generated images. The platform has facilitated various integrations that allow users to generate these images, often with sexually explicit themes. Recognizing the potential risks associated with such content, Discord has been working on updating its policies since late 2021. These updates have been developed in collaboration with child safety experts and are not a direct response to any recent report.
New Policies on Child Sexual Abuse Material and Teen Dating
Discord, in a blog post,
Any text or media content that sexualizes children, including drawn, photorealistic, and AI-generated photorealistic child sexual abuse material. The goal of this update is to ensure that the sexualization of children in any context is not normalized by bad actors.
In this context, we also believe that dating online can result in self-endangerment. Under this policy, teen dating servers are prohibited on the platform and we will take action against users who are engaging in this behavior.
The company is committed to implementing stronger measures to combat the dissemination of such content on its platform. Additionally, Discord is introducing policy alterations and clarifications to explicitly prohibit teen dating. Experts have previously warned that teen dating can be exploited by adults seeking to manipulate or groom children.
