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13+ per terms; widely used younger

Discord: what parents should know

Chat communities organized into servers and DMs. Its private spaces are central to gaming culture — and a primary venue for grooming, sextortion, and recruitment.

9 advisories for Discord

critical — Severe risk of harm — act on this one today.active — Currently happening — we are seeing recent reports.Sextortion

Financial sextortion targeting teens (especially boys)

An account posing as a peer pressures a teen into an explicit image, then threatens to leak it unless paid.

DiscordInstagramSnapchat
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critical — Severe risk of harm — act on this one today.active — Currently happening — we are seeing recent reports.Grooming

Roblox predators luring children to off-platform chats

Strangers befriend kids inside Roblox, then push them to less-moderated apps where filters don't apply.

RobloxDiscord
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critical — Severe risk of harm — act on this one today.emerging — Newly identified — evidence is still accumulating.Inappropriate Content

AI 'nudify' apps creating fake explicit images of classmates

Apps fabricate realistic explicit images from ordinary photos; teens have used them to target peers.

InstagramSnapchatDiscord
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critical — Severe risk of harm — act on this one today.active — Currently happening — we are seeing recent reports.Grooming

Grooming via Discord DMs and invite-only servers

Discord's private servers and DMs are a primary venue where predators isolate and groom children.

Discord
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high — Serious risk — review it with your child this week.active — Currently happening — we are seeing recent reports.Mental Health

AI 'companion' chatbots forming intense bonds with teens

Always-available AI companions and in-app assistants can foster emotional dependency in teens, blur reality, and have given harmful advice in documented cases.

SnapchatInstagramDiscord
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high — Serious risk — review it with your child this week.active — Currently happening — we are seeing recent reports.Cyberbullying

Group-chat bullying and exclusion campaigns

Bullying has moved into group chats — pile-ons, screenshot-sharing, and pointed exclusion that follow a child home on the phone in their pocket.

WhatsAppSnapchatInstagramDiscord
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high — Serious risk — review it with your child this week.active — Currently happening — we are seeing recent reports.Grooming

Grooming on unmoderated Minecraft multiplayer servers

'It's just Minecraft' — but public servers are unmoderated social spaces where predators build trust.

MinecraftDiscord
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high — Serious risk — review it with your child this week.active — Currently happening — we are seeing recent reports.Inappropriate Content

Hidden adult ('condo') experiences slipping past moderation

Bad actors repeatedly re-upload sexually explicit Roblox games and share private links before takedown.

RobloxDiscord
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moderate — Meaningful risk — worth knowing and watching for.monitoring — Quiet right now — we keep watching for its return.Extremism

Extremist communities recruiting minors through gaming culture

Fringe servers use memes and gaming as an on-ramp, gradually normalizing hateful ideology to isolated teens.

Discord
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