Trenton, New Jersey — New Jersey don sue social gaming platform Discord as dem accuse am for no fit protect underage users from predators well. Dis lawsuit, wey filed on Thursday, be di first time any state dey take dis kind action against di company.
Di heavily redacted lawsuit accuse Discord of violating di New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act for allowing children to easily create accounts and no try enough to stop adult users from finding and contacting minors. Discord na app wey gamers dey use for chat through text, audio, and video, and e popular for children wey dey play video games.
Matthew Platkin, New Jersey attorney general, talk say Discord no make am hard for children under 13 to enter di platform and for predators to reach out to underage users. “Dem don spend plenty money for PR campaign to tell di public how dem dey protect kids for dia app,” Platkin tell NBC News. “Dem sabi say e no dey work, and dem no dey protect kids di way dem dey claim.”
For statement wey Discord send through email, di company defend im measures against child exploitation. “Discord dey proud of di continuous efforts wey we dey make to ensure safety for our platform,” di spokesperson talk. “Given di relationship wey we get with di Attorney General’s office, we dey surprise say New Jersey don file dis kind action against us today. We go defend ourself for court.”
Platkin also talk say many of Discord policies to protect kids dey easy to bypass. E show say child wey under 13 fit still create account if dem just check box say dem dey older. According to Platkin, Discord’s “Sensitive Media” filter way suppose blur explicit material dey fail to work well. “Even when e dey enabled, e dey very easy to bypass am,” e talk.
While odas states don file lawsuits against tech companies for no protecting children well, dem usually dey focus on bigger companies like Google and Facebook. Discord don face plenty scrutiny for di past two years. One report for 2023 show say 35 cases dey where adults face charges of kidnapping, grooming or sexual assault wey involve communication on Discord, plus over 100 additional cases of child sexual abuse material.
Discord CEO, Jason Citron, call those reports “horrifying,” and di company don take steps to correct di issues, including banning child dating and any AI-generated child sexual abuse material. For January 2024, di Senate Judiciary Committee go discuss Discord’s child safety policies alongside leaders from Meta, Snap, TikTok, and X.
