Your Discord chats are now searchable on the internet
What's the story
Discord has announced a controversial update that will make some conversations on its public servers more searchable and accessible on the internet. The change specifically targets "Discoverable Servers," which are public Discord servers that admins have opted to include in the platform's Server Discovery feature. The move is aimed at making useful information from these conversations more accessible to a wider audience.
Server count
Over 63,000 discoverable servers
Discord has revealed that over 63,000 Discoverable Servers cover a wide range of topics, from gaming and fandoms to language learning and niche interests.
By making some of these conversations searchable, Discord hopes to broaden the reach of its communities beyond the platform itself.
This move also mimics traditional internet forums where users can find answers by searching through publicly accessible discussions.
Web presence
Individual members can opt out
Starting November 16, each Discoverable Server will get its own web page. This could include automated summaries of discussions in active public channels.
From mid-December, select messages from public channels could also show up in search engine results.
Server admins can choose which channels are included, while individual members can opt out of having their messages made publicly searchable.
User apprehensions
Privacy concerns among users
The announcement has raised privacy concerns among users who fear their conversations could be exposed to audiences far beyond their original context.
Some have also questioned if these conversations could be used to train AI models, a concern that arose during Reddit's data-sharing practices and AI training controversies.
Notably, the feature is disabled by default in the EU, UK, Canada, Brazil, Australia, and South Korea due to legal restrictions.