Discord has introduced a new tool called Family Center, which allows parents and guardians to monitor their children’s activities and understand their communication on the platform. Parents can opt into their teens’ accounts to view their friends, chats, and messages. However, they won’t be able to see the actual content of their teens’ conversations. Parents will receive a weekly email summary of the data. To connect to their teen’s account, parents and guardians need a QR code, which they can scan with their Discord app after the teen accepts the connection request.
The company stated in a blog post that Family Center is designed to foster a productive dialogue about safer internet habits and facilitate connections between parents and teens regarding their online experiences. This update and safety guidelines follow an investigation by NBC News into child safety on Discord, revealing hidden communities and chat rooms used by adults for grooming children and extorting them for explicit images. Additionally, The Washington Post reported the proliferation of AI-generated child sexual abuse images on the internet. Discord’s policy update aims to prevent the normalization of child sexualization in any context and includes text or media content that sexualizes children, including drawn, photorealistic, and AI-generated material.