Unveiling Discord: Extremism, Leaks, and Security Clearance
Discord, the chat platform originally built for gamers, has become a home for extremists due to its lack of oversight and content moderation. Despite efforts to clean up the service after white supremacists used it to plan the deadly Unite the Right rally in 2017, Discord remains vulnerable to bad actors. The company relies on largely unpaid volunteer moderators and users themselves to report violations, but a privacy-first approach and the ability to immediately delete material make it difficult to detect and address problematic content. The platform's rules and culture have allowed racist and antisemitic communities to flourish, enabling individuals like Jack Teixeira to share classified national security secrets for over a year. Discord's struggles with extremism are not unique in Silicon Valley, but the company's privacy stance and limited retention policies have hindered efforts to combat the issue.
