A chat site facing lawsuits over child predators announced a new method of voice communication on X Thursday — and it did not receive a warm welcome.
Discord, a platform that allows strangers to form private chat rooms, is developing a “Voice Dares” feature letting users “challenge your friends in your voice channel to complete a task” such as winning a video game, according to Discord’s posts. Numerous comments on X raised concerns that the feature could add fuel to the fire of child abuse on Discord, a problem that has brought years of federal prosecutions, congressional scrutiny and litigation from the state of New Jersey and parents.
“Why don’t these companies care about the harms they’re causing???” one X user wrote. “How many dead or permanently injured children will be the tipping point before they finally decide to do actually protect kids.”
“Nah, sorry this is dangerous, and asking for trouble,” another user wrote. “The only way it might be safe(r) is if it used highly controlled dares linked to completing stuff via discord or relative to games; with Zero customization.”
The Voice Dares feature will let the requested tasks “be timed or tied to other conditions, such as winning a game,” Discord’s X posts say. “Your currently active dare will also be visible to everyone else on Discord.” A picture of the proposed feature shows a “chicken out” button for users who do not wish to proceed with a dare.
Discord has attempted to protect minors with a machine learning system that flags child pornography, a safety team that reviews all reports of such content and repeated collaboration with law enforcement. Those reacting to the Voice Dares announcement, as well the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office and parents of alleged abuse victims, say the platform has become a safe haven for predators and sexual abuse content.
“Discord is creating binding vows for child molesters there’s no one else out here doing it like them,” one X user said.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) highlighted Discord in previous investigations into sadistic online groups, often rooted in Satanic and nihilistic ideology, using social media and gaming sites to extort children into performing sexual acts, cutting themselves, committing suicide and other degrading acts on camera, the DCNF previously reported.
The DOJ announced a grand jury indictment in December against alleged members of “Greggy’s Cult,” a Discord group that it believes popularized this style of online abuse and gave birth to an even more dangerous pedophilia cult on Discord known as “764.” President Donald Trump’s FBI considers 764 a top threat to children, linking it to hundreds of cases.
“It’s ridiculous,” an X commenter said about Discord’s upcoming voice chat tool. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think the Discord [development] team was taking orders from 764 or something.”
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