Discord’s popularity as a gamers and communities platform has turned it into a place for social interaction. Although it presents countless chances for constructive interaction, parents must keep in mind the underbelly of Discord nudes and adult-designated servers. These spaces present minors with problematic content that they shouldn’t be exposed to.
In this article, we’ll discuss the rise of overtly inappropriate content on Discord messaging, how it works, and why it’s a problem. We’ll also cover how parents can help keep their kids safe.
What is Discord used for?
Discord is a communication platform that can create and manage private or public communities called servers. Users can chat via text, voice or video calls and share files within any of these servers, which enable seamless interaction among community members.
The key elements are voice channels for real-time conversations, text channels to host organized discussions, and integration with all possible services to add value.
Besides, Discord also supports customization features with custom roles and permissions. Overall, bots make tasks automated and make servers function better.
For what ages:
- In terms of age requirements, the users must be at least 13 years old (per Discord’s Terms of Service).
- Nevertheless, this minimum age may change to local law. For example, some countries require you to be older than the minimum age in other countries.
- To comply with these regulations, users are prompted to confirm their date of birth during account creation. However, without further verification, unless the user is reported as being under 13.
Shield your teen from Discord’s dark side and online safety starts with parental controls.
Why is Discord popular among teens?
Discord has grown so quickly to become what it is today, with all the features and options that young users love. They use voice, text and video to connect with friends, join communities centered around activities they care about, and work together with friends on school projects.
Peer influence
It’s only natural that teens are drawn to platforms on which their peers are active. Once teens come across the platform, they usually invite friends to join certain servers, thus starting the ripple effect.
These servers become digital hangouts that teens can chat on, share memes, or work on projects, creating a close-knit community.
Socializing
Multiple ways to interact make Discord good at meeting teens’ social needs. From catching up after school, giving some gaming highlights, or always finding news about whatever is trending, Discords becomes an ideal place for teens.
The straightforward design and accessibility make it appealing, so even if you are new to socializing, jumping in on fun and socializing won’t be difficult.
Gaming
Also, since gaming is such an inherent part of teen culture, much of what Discord does makes sense.
The platform integrates naturally with popular games, enabling teens to arrange multiplayer and chat with team players while in gameplay.
Voice channels offer a new immersion mode, allowing players to talk strategy or just talk while playing. Those make gaming a shared and collaborative experience.
Community building
Discord communities enable people to connect to those who love the same things. This feature offers many chances to subsets of any type of group, like fandoms of anime or coding clubs. Users get a space to explore different interests, learn new skills, and make friends.
The structured but customizable server setup allows them to engage in discussions, events, or collaborative work on projects, making Discord a backbone for building community.
Does Discord allow NSFW content?
Yes, Discord does allow Not Safe For Work (NSFW) content, as long as it is shared through NSFW-marked channels or servers.
Discord does have content filters and moderation tools, but that doesn’t mean that NSFW content, such as nudes through Discord, doesn’t exist.
In the case of NSFW hashed pages, users could get access to explicit content. Hence, parents are advised to familiarize themselves with how private accounts share explicit content.
Rises of Discord nudes trading parents should know
Research has shown that teenagers are rapidly growing the use of sharing explicit content in platforms like Discord.
In one of its Jan-June 2021 Transparency Reports, Discord had stated that it removed more than 470,000 non-spam accounts. The report adds that “Exploitative content made a particularly large contribution to this overall rise” and describes it as an umbrella category covering pornography. This is a trend that parents should be ready to talk about.
An article about “Discord and teens” from CNN Business has also shared stories of some worried parents whose children were being exposed to self-harm chats, explicit pornography, and sexual predators on Discord. And those are just the tip of the iceberg – users who are older men are looking around for and sharing porn images and videos. Many parents said they did not enable any of the offered parental controls at the time, mostly because they were in the dark about how the platform works.
Discord nudes trend is the act of swapping nudes between users. This can be anything in public servers, on private servers, or direct messages (DMs). The relative anonymity and ease with which one can share on Discord makes it easier for such content to spread without the consent of all participants.
How teens access nudes and porn on Discord?
Discord is targeted as a community space to connect and share hobbies and discussions with others. However, the truth is that some teens will come across (or intentionally search for) other explicit content.
Knowing how young users access this type of content is important in helping parents and guardians, and educators develop strategies to protect young users.
1. Lack of strict moderation
The platform itself is basically decentralized, though Discord does advocate that server administrators have moderation tools.
With millions of active servers and channels, it is hard to monitor all of them closely.
In the end, it is up to the server owners, moderators, and their crew, ranging from experts to overworked moderators.
2. Private servers and direct messages
One thing that makes Discord so special is its private servers and direct messaging. Users eager to use space exclusively for communication would find this flexibility attractive, but this flexibility has a certain number of risks.
Stuff in private servers can often fly unchecked, whereas scrutiny would be more rigorous in public servers.
Sharing content via DMs allows users to avoid server-specific rules or moderation in the same way.
3. Use of bots and fake accounts
Discord features an open ecosystem for bots and automated programs that help perform tasks or augment server convenience.
Most bots find legitimate purposes, but misused bots disseminate explicit content extremely fast and on a large scale.
Secondly, because it is so easy to set up fake accounts, some people can easily evade bans when they post harmful content.
Discord’s lack of stringent identity verification allows these accounts to exploit this to create all manner of accounts and it’s difficult to hold users accountable for.
4. Private nude and porn servers
On Discord, some private servers just seem to exist now to share nudes and porn. Since each server can be invited only or through private links and they work covertly, it is difficult to track them down and regulate them.
These servers are primarily utilized to anonymously conduct activities that are prohibited or in the grey area. Risks include exposure to hazardous material, exploitation, and becoming engaged in criminal activity.
As such, servers rely on parents’ vigilance and intervention if minors get hold of Discord.
Risks of exposure to inappropriate content on Discord
There is a lot that Discord can provide to teens, allowing them to connect to their peers and also explore their interests together.
Like all things digital, exposure to malicious or inappropriate content, and in particular explicit material, is something to be aware of. Let’s take a deeper look at the impact of such content on teens.
1. Legal risks
Of course, the most serious consequence is legal issues. It’s illegal to share, possess, trade, or distribute explicit content that contains minors and can earn a person fines, arrest and criminal charges. Even minors engaging in such misbehavior may be reprimanded accordingly.
2. Psychological impact
Exposure to it at a young age has profound, long-lasting psychological effects.
Such mature adult material can confuse, distress, or bring anxiety to teens who are still in critical stages of emotional and cognitive development.
If a teen is brought up with porn addiction or identifies with toxic sexual behavior, these early experiences can warp their understanding of intimate relationships.
3. Cyberbullying and exploitation
Sharing nudes between teens on Discord is usually accompanied by bullying and exploitation, and they can also become groomers.
Private images or videos can become someone’s tool for harassment, manipulation, or retaliation.
Peers can use nude content to humiliate, bully, and control the other person and leave the victim with emotional trauma or even social isolation.
4. Privacy risks
As soon as explicit content is shared in supposedly private spaces such as DMs or closed servers, it’s impossible to promise that it will stay within its circle.
However, with private servers and direct messaging, Discord increases privacy and the risk of sharing content without consent.
With inappropriate images or conversations, it is easy to screenshot, forward and share on another platform, thus running foul of privacy.
How to protect your teen from Discord nudes?
A parent or guardian needs to protect teens from access to inappropriate material on Discord since it allows its users to communicate and share all sorts of material openly. There are too many possibilities and opportunities for these minors to receive or search for content that is not age-appropriate. Let’s break down what parents can do for them.
Setting up parental controls
Discord has some basic parental controls for parents to help teens stay safe, including Safe Direct Messaging and Family Center. The former feature is turned on to scan and delete DMs containing explicit content automatically; the latter allows parents to monitor their children’s activities in the app.
However, these built-in settings are relatively easy to modify. This is why combining them with a more rounded option like FlashGet Kids provides extra protection for your child.
FlashGet Kids comes with real-time activity monitoring via screen mirroring and notification tracker, enabling you to follow what your teens do on Discord, such as which servers they join and messages they receive. You also can set screen time limits and the app blocker to manage how much time they spend on the app. The features provide you with more practical assistance than Discord’s default settings.
Open communication and education
Trust and an open line of communication are the make or break when it comes to protecting your teen from inappropriate content.
Regular talks about the potential risks connected with online communication and the necessity of handling yourself in social networks responsibly should be provided.
Encourage them to talk to you if they encounter anything uncomfortable. Training your teen to make safer choices and handle the tough stuff better.
Report and block someone sending nudes on Discord
Discord also allows users to easily block individuals who make them uncomfortable, helping maintain a safer online experience. Your teen must know how to report inappropriate content on Discord. Use built-in reporting tools to teach them to report and block users sharing harmful material.
Conclusion
Open communication, education and protection tools are a combination for protecting your teen from Discord nudes and other inappropriate content.
Talking constantly about online safety and helping your teen know how to report harmful content gives them the power to use the platform responsibly.
We can add an extra layer of protection by using tools like FlashGet Kids, which allows you to monitor real-time activity, filter explicit content and see certain details on specific keywords. In regards to online, it’s also important to set boundaries around what is considered safe socializing.
