Discord Terms of Service & Privacy Policy
Discord
Below Average
Based on a complete review of both the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, Discord offers a robust platform but with terms that heavily favor the company, especially regarding user rights, data usage for AI training, and dispute resolution.
Source: https://discord.com/terms
Profile & Identity Data
Username, password, email address and/or phone number, birthday. May require additional information for age verification. Optional: name or display name.
Content You Create
Messages, posts (including drafts), voice messages, custom emojis, files, profile information, and server creation details. Generally does not store video/voice call content, but may retain thumbnail cover images for streams and build features for short recordings. Content posted in larger, public spaces may be widely accessible.
Financial & Transaction Data
Payment method, billing information (full name, billing address). May receive the last four digits of credit card numbers from payment processors. If you sell through Discord, you may need to provide bank account information, tax ID, and government-issued identification.
Activity & Interaction Data
Friends you add, users, bots, and apps you engage with, servers/communities you join, your roles in servers, content moderation decisions you make, purchases/sales made on Discord. Also, limited information from your device about active games and other applications (e.g., game you're playing, song you're listening to if linked).
Optional Feature Data
Information from features like contact syncing, integrations, third-party service data sharing, and linked music streaming or game accounts (e.g., current song, game).
Device & Usage Data
IP address, operating system, browser information, device settings (e.g., microphone and/or camera access). Log and event information related to how and when you use the services (pages, servers, channels visited, activities, features, embedded content).
Third-Party & Marketing Data
Information from social media interactions, advertisers (e.g., ad engagement), and third-party data providers (e.g., demographic information, engagement with other products/services outside Discord). Also, information about which Discord ads you saw and on which platform if you click them.
Tracking Technologies
Information from cookies and similar technologies.
Service Provision & Account Management
Use your information to provide Discord's core services (voice, video, text communication), create and manage your account, facilitate purchases, and power optional features like linked accounts.
Safety, Moderation & AI Training
Monitor for and take action against violations of terms/guidelines, respond to user reports, detect fraud/malware, and proactively scan content. Importantly, they use reported content, violating content, and 'widely available' content (like public posts, usernames, server names) to create and train 'automated systems and models' to detect and act against prohibited content/conduct.
Personalization & Sponsored Content
Personalize your Discord experience, including customizing content, communities, activities, features, promotions, and delivering 'relevant sponsored content' (like Quests) based on your activity, preferences, and servers. You can control this in settings.
Product Improvement & Development
Understand how users interact with services, identify desired features, develop safer features, understand server structures, and analyze 'widely available' content to understand topics and improve services.
Communication & Marketing
Contact you about your account (verification, security), product/policy changes, purchases, and to inform you about new products, features, or experiments. May send marketing communications, requiring consent where legally necessary.
Security & Enforcement
Keep services secure, prevent misuse, and enforce their Terms of Service and other policies.
Business Operations & Reporting
Track business metrics, perform financial reporting, meet regulatory obligations, and debug billing issues.
Legal Compliance & Emergency Situations
Retain and use information for potential legal claims, compliance, regulatory, and auditing purposes. May disclose information in response to legal requests (including law enforcement) or to prevent death or serious harm to a person.
Data Sharing with Third Parties
Share information with vendors (payment processors, cloud providers, advertising platforms for targeting/measurement, analytics partners), related companies, and in the event of a merger/acquisition. Also share when you interact with third-party services or tell them to (e.g., posting in public servers).
Content License
MEDIUM RISK“But by using our services, you grant us a license to use, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works of, display, and perform your content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of providing, developing, and improving our services as permitted by applicable laws. This license is worldwide, non-exclusive (which means you can still license your content to others), royalty-free (which means there are no fees for this license), sublicensable, and transferable.”
This means: You give Discord a broad, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, copy, distribute, and display anything you post on their platform. This includes the right to create new things from your content. They say this is for 'providing, developing, and improving' their services, which can include training their AI models.
Account Transfer Restriction
LOW RISK“You agree not to license, sell, lend, or transfer your account, Discord username, vanity URL, or other unique identifier without our prior written approval. We also reserve the right to delete, change, or reclaim your username, URL, or other identifier.”
This means: You cannot sell, give away, or transfer your Discord account or username. Discord can also change, delete, or take back your username or other identifiers at their discretion.
Services 'AS IS' & No Warranties
MEDIUM RISK“TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, DISCORD, ITS AFFILIATES, AND THEIR RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS MAKE NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ABOUT THE SERVICES. THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS.” WE ALSO DISCLAIM ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, QUIET ENJOYMENT, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT...”
This means: Discord provides its services 'as is,' meaning they don't guarantee that the service will always work perfectly, be available, or meet your specific needs. They disclaim most standard legal guarantees about quality or suitability.
Limitation of Liability
HIGH RISK“IN JURISDICTIONS WHERE EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY ARE ALLOWED... DISCORD LIMITS OUR LIABILITY TO YOU TO THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNTS YOU HAVE PAID US IN THE THREE MONTHS BEFORE YOU FIRST ASSERT A CLAIM OR (B) $100 USD (OR THE EQUIVALENT IN YOUR LOCAL CURRENCY).”
This means: Discord severely limits its financial responsibility to you for any damages, including lost profits, data, or service interruptions. If they are found liable, the most you can recover is $100 or the amount you paid them in the three months before your claim, whichever is higher.
Mandatory Arbitration (US/Canada)
HIGH RISK“The section titled “Settling Disputes Between You and Discord” contains an arbitration clause and class-action waiver that applies to all U.S. or Canada-based Discord users. Please read this section carefully as it may significantly affect your legal rights, including your right to file a lawsuit in court. ... Only after engaging in the Informal Dispute Resolution process... then either Party may initiate binding arbitration as the sole means to resolve Disputes...”
This means: If you are in the US or Canada, you agree to resolve most disputes with Discord through binding arbitration, not a court lawsuit. This means you give up your right to a jury trial and must first attempt informal resolution. You can opt out of this arbitration agreement within 30 days of accepting the terms.
Class Action Waiver
HIGH RISK“You agree that any Dispute between you and Discord that for any reason is not subject to the “Agreement to Arbitrate” section below may only be pursued by you on an individual basis, and you may not bring a claim as a plaintiff or a class member in a class, collective, or representative action.”
This means: You cannot join a class-action lawsuit or any collective legal action against Discord. All disputes must be handled individually.
Choice of Law & Venue
HIGH RISK“These terms and all Disputes between you and Discord... shall be governed by the law of the United States and the laws of California... the Dispute must be resolved exclusively by a court of competent jurisdiction... located in the County of New Castle, Delaware, and no other court. ... If you are a consumer residing in the European Union... all Disputes... shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the court of Amsterdam, the Netherlands or, if you are a consumer, to a court in your domicile if in an EU Member State.”
This means: For US/Canada users, California law applies, and any non-arbitrable disputes must be heard in courts in New Castle County, Delaware. This is a specific, potentially distant, jurisdiction. EU consumers have more favorable options, allowing for Amsterdam or their local domicile.
One-Year Claim Limitation
HIGH RISK“No action, regardless of form, arising out of or relating to a Dispute may be brought by either Party more than one (1) year after the cause of action has accrued.”
This means: You only have one year to bring any legal claim against Discord after the issue arises. This is a much shorter timeframe than many standard legal statutes of limitations.
Indemnification
MEDIUM RISK“You will indemnify and hold Discord and its officers, directors, employees and agents harmless from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, and costs (including reasonable legal and accounting fees) related to (a) your access to or use of our services or third-party services, (b) your content, (c) your violation of these terms, or (d) your negligence or willful misconduct.”
This means: If your actions on the platform (like breaking rules, posting problematic content, or using third-party services) cause Discord to face legal claims or costs, you agree to cover their legal expenses and damages.
Broad Termination Rights
HIGH RISK“Subject to applicable law, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account and/or your access to some or all of our services with or without notice, at our discretion for any reason, or for the following reasons: ... Your account has been inactive for more than two years. ... Continuing to allow your account to be active... creates risk for Discord, other users, or third parties.”
This means: Discord can suspend or terminate your account and access to services at any time, with or without notice, for almost any reason. This includes if your account is inactive for two years or if Discord decides your account poses a 'risk' to them or others.
Delete your account
Yes, you can delete your Discord account through the User Settings page in the app. You can also disable it temporarily.
Data retention
Deleting your account permanently deletes identifying information and anonymizes other data, as described in their data retention policy. However, some content may be retained by Discord for policy use (e.g., for training AI models) or if they have a legal obligation to keep it.
Data portability
Yes, you can request a copy of your data in common digital formats (like JSON) from the Data & Privacy section of your User Settings. You should receive it within 30 days.
Mandatory Arbitration and Class Action Waiver (US/Canada)
This forces users in the US and Canada into individual arbitration for most disputes, stripping away their right to sue Discord in court or join class-action lawsuits. This significantly limits your legal recourse and ability to hold the company accountable collectively.
Industry context: This is a common, but highly unfavorable, practice among large tech companies.
Broad Content License and AI Training
Discord gets a broad, sublicensable license to your content for 'improving our services.' Their Privacy Policy explicitly states they use content (including public posts and reported content) to 'create systems and models' for automated detection and moderation. This means your content can be used to train their AI, even if you delete it later.
Industry context: While content licensing is standard for user-generated content platforms, the explicit mention of using content for AI model training, especially from reported content, is a growing concern and leans towards higher risk.
Broad Termination Rights and Limited Liability
Discord can terminate your account at their discretion for almost any reason, even without notice, including for inactivity or if they deem your account a 'risk.' Simultaneously, they severely limit their liability to you (max $100 or 3 months' payments). This combination means they can cut you off easily with minimal responsibility for any harm caused.
Industry context: Broad termination rights are common, but the combination with extremely limited liability is particularly unfavorable to users, though not unheard of in the industry.
One-Year Claim Limitation
You only have one year to bring any legal claim against Discord after an issue arises. This is a significantly shorter period than typical statutes of limitations, making it harder for users to pursue claims.
Industry context: This is a more aggressive limitation than many standard legal timeframes and heavily favors the company.
Discord's policies are relatively transparent, but the legal terms are heavily skewed in the company's favor. Be aware that your content can be used for AI training, and if you're in the US or Canada, you're giving up significant legal rights by agreeing to mandatory arbitration and a class action waiver. You can delete your account and request your data, but some content may persist for Discord's internal use. Always consult with a qualified attorney for legal advice regarding these terms.
Want to analyze a different service? Analyze any TOS →