New Jersey complain of disagreement for failing to protect children
Discord is faced with a new petition from New Jersey, claiming the chat program is involved in “deceptive and indescribable business practices” that endanger their young users.
The petition, which was filed on Thursday, is carried out by the New Jersey Prosecutor’s Office after several years of investigation. The AG office claims that it has discovered evidence that, despite Discord’s policies to protect children and adolescents, the popular messaging program is endangering young people.
“We are the first state in the country to complain about Discord,” the prosecutor general Matthew Platkin tells Wired.
Platkin says there were two catalysts for research. One is a person: A few years ago, a family friend came to Platkin, stunning that his 10 -year -old son was able to register in Discord despite the platform that prohibits children under the age of 13.
Second, a mass shooting in Buffalo was neighboring New York. The perpetrator used Discord as his personal diary to advance the attack and transferred the massacre directly to the video and video program. (The film was quickly deleted.)
“These companies are constantly, consciously, the benefits and prosperity of our children,” says Platkin.
The AG office claims that Discord has violated the government’s consumer fraud. The allegations, which were made on Thursday morning, illuminate a set of policies adopted by Discord to keep children from 13 platforms and to keep adolescents from sexual abuse and violent content. This petition is the latest list of rising petitions from governments against major social media firms – a relatively ineffective classification.
Discord Child and Adolescent Safety Policies are obvious: Children under the age of 13 are prohibited from the messaging program, while this is extensively forbidden from any sexual interaction with minors, including “youth self -testing”. In addition, it also has algorithmic filters to stop unwanted sexual message. “We have created disagreements to be different and work relentlessly to make it a fun and safe space for teenagers,” said California -based company safety policy, released in 2023.
But New Jersey says, “Discord’s promises have fallen, and continue to fall.”
The prosecutor general points out that Discord has three levels of safety to prevent unwanted messages and adult exploitation: “Keep me safe”, where this platform scans all messages in the user’s inbox. “My friends are fine”, where it doesn’t scan the messages of friends. And “don’t scan”, where no message scans.
Even for adolescent users, the petition claims that this default platform “My friends are good”. The prosecutor general claims that this is a deliberate design that is a threat to younger users. The petition also claims that Discord fails to confirm the age to prevent children from registering under the age of 13 in the service.
In 2023, Discord added new filters to identify and block unwanted sexual content, but the AG office says the company should by default “hold me”.
