What is Discord and is it Dangerous?

November 11, 2025

With recent global events, you’ve likely come across articles, conversations, or opinion pieces about Discord. As of 2024, the instant messaging platform boasts over 150 million monthly users. Once known primarily as a communication tool for gamers, Discord has evolved into a hub for a wide range of communities—from book clubs and fandoms to casual chat groups with friends and family.

What sets Discord apart from traditional social media is its unique structure: no public feeds, no traditional advertising, and a focus on private, curated spaces.

As more attention turns to corners of the internet that might be unfamiliar to the mainstream, this blog aims to shed light on Discord’s ecosystem and answer some of the questions you may be asking yourself.

What Is Discord?

Discord was established in 2015 as a social platform for people with similar interests to share voice notes, videos, and texts with one another. The app originally targeted gamers, offering superior voice chats and customizable server options. Individuals were able to live chat with other Discord users while playing their favorite games and build communities solely focused on their hobbies.

The app received an influx of users not connected to the gaming community in the late 2010’s and during COVID-19. The pandemic led many people to Discord, where they built virtual communities for a myriad of topics ranging from musician fan groups to book clubs. The features that originally appealed to the gaming community were also applicable for establishing virtual classrooms and information sharing among groups.

Discord offers both private and public servers. Public servers work similarly to other social platforms; it allows users to chat with any public server that they would like. Most public servers are monitored by moderators who have the power to remove or edit information shared in the server. Private servers offer users more secrecy, are typically invite only, and offer users an exclusive forum for group chats. Whoever sets up the server has admin rights, which allows them to add/remove members, ban content/words, and add additional admin members.

Is Discord Dangerous?

Discord can be used safely but as with any social media app, there are bad actors and users can be susceptible to harmful behavior.

Cybercriminals employ a range of tactics to deceive Discord users into installing malware—often referred to as a Discord virus—which can have serious consequences for their devices and data. Beyond technical threats, users may also encounter harmful behavior such as the sharing of explicit content or experiences of bullying and harassment within the platform. The platform has also been used in the past to share classified information as well as manifestos related to violent extremism.

The major concerns with Discord are:

Discord Scams & Viruses– A majority of Discord scams involve deceiving users into “clicking links, scanning QR codes, or logging in to off-site locations” so bad actors can spread malicious software. Research states that the most common type of malware in Discord is Remote Access Trojan (RAT), which hackers distribute using malicious links. Discord’s security team does have tools to filter malicious files but can sometimes miss ones when they initially hit the platform.

Risk to Children/Teens– To protect children, the app has an age requirement of 13 though people believe it is easy to bypass their verification process. The risk of exposure to NSFW (not suitable for work) content is hard to mitigate when children have their own accounts. Users may post sexually explicit imagery or videos in public servers without warning.

Cyberbullying/Harassment – Because many individuals using Discord to connect with communities, there are frequent conversations that occur between strangers. Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. In a 2024 transparency report released by Discord, they claim to have taken some form of action against 92K accounts, which included disabling over 19k for some form of harassment and bullying.

How to Protect Yourself

Some risks on Discord are similar to those found across the open web. However, both cybersecurity experts and Discord itself offer practical steps that users can take to stay safe and protect their accounts from malicious activity.

Key safety tips:

Always enable two-factor authentication (2FA) to add an extra layer of security to your account.

Block and report suspicious users to help keep the community safe.

Stay alert for scams: Discord recommends avoiding links from unknown senders and never downloading code or files you don’t recognize.

Control who can message you: Adjust your privacy settings to limit direct messages to friends or members of shared servers. You can also enable filters to reduce spam and unwanted messages.

Conclusion

While Discord offers a fun and dynamic way to connect with friends, communities, and shared interests, it’s important to stay mindful of your safety online. By taking a few simple precautions like managing your privacy settings and being cautious with unknown links or users, you can enjoy everything the platform has to offer without putting yourself at risk. Staying aware of potential threats ensures you can make the most of your experience without compromising your safety.