Difference between revisions of "Discord"
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| − | '''Discord''' is a voice, video, and text communication service used by over a hundred million people to hang out and talk with their friends and communities <ref name="About Discord | Our Mission and Values"> https://discord.com/company </ref>. | + | '''Discord''' is a voice, video, and text communication service used by over a hundred million people to hang out and talk with their friends and communities <ref name="About Discord | Our Mission and Values"> https://discord.com/company </ref>. The communities are primarily built on virtual groups, called “servers”. A server is a collection of two types of channels: chat rooms and voice calls. A server runs on a theme and attracts users with interests to said themes. As of 2022 <ref name="Discord Valued at $15 Billion After New Funding Round"> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-15/chat-app-discord-is-worth-15-billion-after-new-funding </ref>, the service is now valued at $15 billion and has over 150 million monthly active users with 19 million active servers <ref name="Discord Statistics"> https://influencermarketinghub.com/discord-stats/ </ref>. Discord also poses serious ethical implications regarding cyberbullying, anonymity, doxxing, and not safe for work (nsfw) content. |
| − | + | ||
== History == | == History == | ||
| − | + | Since childhood, founders Jason Citron (CEO) and Stan Vishnevskiy (CTO) both shared a love of video games, cherishing the friendships and connections that formed while playing them. Dedicated to the idea of creating a service that encouraged talking, helped form memories, and recreated the feeling of togetherness all found through gaming, the two founders took it upon themselves to create Discord. The application was brought to life in 2015 with the goal of solving how to communicate with friends around the world while playing games online. Additionally, the platform was created to help make it easier for users to participate in conversation, hopping around text, voice, and video to talk. As of January 2022, the social platform has 150 million monthly active users, 19 million active servers per week, and 4 billion server conversation minutes daily <ref name="About Discord | Our Mission and Values"/>. | |
== Usage == | == Usage == | ||
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=== User Profile === | === User Profile === | ||
=== Nitro (Membership) === | === Nitro (Membership) === | ||
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== Ethical Implications == | == Ethical Implications == | ||
=== Cyberbullying === | === Cyberbullying === | ||
| + | Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. It can include sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or humiliation. Some cyberbullying crosses the line into unlawful or criminal behavior. The content an individual shares online – both their personal content as well as any negative, mean, or hurtful content – creates a kind of permanent public record of their views, activities, and behavior. This public record can be thought of as an online reputation, which may be accessible to schools, employers, colleges, clubs, and others who may be researching an individual now or in the future. Cyberbullying can harm the online reputations of everyone involved – not just the person being bullied, but those doing the bullying or participating in it. <ref name="What is Cyberbullying"> https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it </ref>. Some examples of cyberbullying that are notable on Discord include general harassment, server raids, flaming, and trolling. | ||
| + | |||
=== Anonymity === | === Anonymity === | ||
====== Hate Speech ====== | ====== Hate Speech ====== | ||
| + | |||
| + | For example, on the night of September 2, 2021, three unknown individuals joined the University of Utah’s Muslim Student Association Discord channel and began using racist language and sharing racist memes and images in an attempt to “troll” the channel and its members. The language included slurs against the Black Community, Jewish Community and Muslim community <ref name="Discord Server Harassment"> https://diversity.utah.edu/initiatives/statements/discord-server-harassment/ </ref>. | ||
| + | |||
====== Predatory Behavior ====== | ====== Predatory Behavior ====== | ||
=== Doxxing === | === Doxxing === | ||
| − | === | + | Doxxing refers to gathering an individual’s Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and disclosing or posting it publicly, usually for malicious purposes such as public humiliation, stalking, identity theft, or targeting an individual for harassment. Doxxers may then compile information from multiple public-facing sources to reveal sensitive information about the victim, such as the victim’s home address, family members, photos, workplace, and information about the individual’s habits, hobbies, or interests <ref name="How to Prevent Online Harassment from Doxxing"> https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/How%20to%20Prevent%20Online%20Harrassment%20From%20Doxxing.pdf </ref>. Technically, doxxing is not illegal as long as the information is of public record. But, doxxers use the internet to find public information about a target and compile it with the intent of "exposing" someone or just for pure retaliation. But if doxxing leads to death threats or threats of physical violence on the target's self or property, it can be illegal depending on where you live <ref name="What is Doxxing?"> https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-doxxing |
| + | </ref>. | ||
| + | === Not Safe For Work (NSFW) Content === | ||
| + | Adult content on Discord should only be accessible to those over 18 years old, and must be labelled properly to avoid anyone stumbling upon it inadvertently <ref name="Policies Around Adult Content on Discord"> https://discord.com/safety/360043653552-Adult-content-on-Discord </ref>. | ||
| + | == Safety == | ||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
Revision as of 06:57, 28 January 2022
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Discord is a voice, video, and text communication service used by over a hundred million people to hang out and talk with their friends and communities [1]. The communities are primarily built on virtual groups, called “servers”. A server is a collection of two types of channels: chat rooms and voice calls. A server runs on a theme and attracts users with interests to said themes. As of 2022 [2], the service is now valued at $15 billion and has over 150 million monthly active users with 19 million active servers [3]. Discord also poses serious ethical implications regarding cyberbullying, anonymity, doxxing, and not safe for work (nsfw) content.
History
Since childhood, founders Jason Citron (CEO) and Stan Vishnevskiy (CTO) both shared a love of video games, cherishing the friendships and connections that formed while playing them. Dedicated to the idea of creating a service that encouraged talking, helped form memories, and recreated the feeling of togetherness all found through gaming, the two founders took it upon themselves to create Discord. The application was brought to life in 2015 with the goal of solving how to communicate with friends around the world while playing games online. Additionally, the platform was created to help make it easier for users to participate in conversation, hopping around text, voice, and video to talk. As of January 2022, the social platform has 150 million monthly active users, 19 million active servers per week, and 4 billion server conversation minutes daily [1].
Usage
Gamers
Universities
Features
Servers
Channels
Direct Messaging
Video Calls
Live Streaming
User Profile
Nitro (Membership)
Ethical Implications
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. It can include sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or humiliation. Some cyberbullying crosses the line into unlawful or criminal behavior. The content an individual shares online – both their personal content as well as any negative, mean, or hurtful content – creates a kind of permanent public record of their views, activities, and behavior. This public record can be thought of as an online reputation, which may be accessible to schools, employers, colleges, clubs, and others who may be researching an individual now or in the future. Cyberbullying can harm the online reputations of everyone involved – not just the person being bullied, but those doing the bullying or participating in it. [4]. Some examples of cyberbullying that are notable on Discord include general harassment, server raids, flaming, and trolling.
Anonymity
Hate Speech
For example, on the night of September 2, 2021, three unknown individuals joined the University of Utah’s Muslim Student Association Discord channel and began using racist language and sharing racist memes and images in an attempt to “troll” the channel and its members. The language included slurs against the Black Community, Jewish Community and Muslim community [5].
Predatory Behavior
Doxxing
Doxxing refers to gathering an individual’s Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and disclosing or posting it publicly, usually for malicious purposes such as public humiliation, stalking, identity theft, or targeting an individual for harassment. Doxxers may then compile information from multiple public-facing sources to reveal sensitive information about the victim, such as the victim’s home address, family members, photos, workplace, and information about the individual’s habits, hobbies, or interests [6]. Technically, doxxing is not illegal as long as the information is of public record. But, doxxers use the internet to find public information about a target and compile it with the intent of "exposing" someone or just for pure retaliation. But if doxxing leads to death threats or threats of physical violence on the target's self or property, it can be illegal depending on where you live [7].
Not Safe For Work (NSFW) Content
Adult content on Discord should only be accessible to those over 18 years old, and must be labelled properly to avoid anyone stumbling upon it inadvertently [8].
Safety
See also
- Anonymous Behavior in Virtual Environments
- Anonymous Online Presence and Harassment
- Cyberbullying
- Flaming
- Griefing
- Online Identity
- Social Networking
- Troll
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://discord.com/company
- ↑ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-15/chat-app-discord-is-worth-15-billion-after-new-funding
- ↑ https://influencermarketinghub.com/discord-stats/
- ↑ https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it
- ↑ https://diversity.utah.edu/initiatives/statements/discord-server-harassment/
- ↑ https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/How%20to%20Prevent%20Online%20Harrassment%20From%20Doxxing.pdf
- ↑ https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-doxxing
- ↑ https://discord.com/safety/360043653552-Adult-content-on-Discord
