Attorney General Ford Sues Online Platform Discord for Failing to Protect Nevada Children

Carson City, NV — Today, Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford announced he has filed a lawsuit against online social messaging platform Discord, the latest legal action he has taken to protect Nevada’s children from the failings of online tech companies. The lawsuit seeks to hold Discord accountable for designing its platform in a way that places young users of Discord in grave danger, and failing to adequately explain those dangers to Nevada parents.

“My office’s investigation has revealed that Discord’s lack of age verification; hands-off approach to moderation and account banning; and refusal to limit online interactions between children and adult strangers has made Discord the go-to chat option for child abusers, including in Nevada,” said Attorney General Ford. “If a platform is marketed as a fun place for kids to game and chat with each other, it is the responsibility of that platform to not let adults pretend to be children and create an unsafe space for youth.”

The lawsuit alleges Discord has prioritized growth over safety throughout its business and has misled both parents and the general public about the problems on its platform. By doing so and by failing to enforce its own minimum age requirement, the Office of the Attorney General alleges Discord has violated the Nevada Deceptive Trade Practices Act numerous times over.

There are few safeguards on Discord stopping adult strangers from finding minors and messaging them privately. It is easy for a person to make one or more accounts on Discord and provide no sort of identity or age verification in doing so, thereby circumventing any ban or account restriction Discord has placed on them.

In the complaint, the Office of the Attorney General points out a number of criminal prosecutions in Nevada involving adults sexually assaulting, grooming and soliciting sex from minor children, all while using the Discord platform to make contact with their victims. The Office of the Attorney General also alleges that Discord’s recent attempts to better authenticate users’ ages have since been walked back by the company following backlash from their user base.

Ford’s office has filed similar consumer protection lawsuits against TikTok, Snap, Meta, YouTube and Kik, all alleging harmful design features and a lack of common-sense online safety measures for children. The office is currently scheduled for trial against TikTok and Snap in 2027.

A copy of the complaint is available here.

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