How Discord Works with Law Enforcement (2024)

How We Enforce Rules

What is Discord?

Discord is a voice, video, and text chat app that's used by tens of millions of people ages 13+ to talk and hang out with their communities and friends.

The vast majority of servers are private, invite-only spaces for groups of friends and communities to stay in touch and spend time together. There are also larger, more open communities, generally centered around specific topics. Users have control over whom they interact with and what their experience on Discord is.

More information about Discord and our community goals can be found here.

Contact Information and Service of Process

• Our contact preference is email. Please contact us at lawenforcement@discord.com with any questions or legal process documents.
• We will not respond to correspondence sent by non-law enforcement officials to the email address listed above.
• All legal correspondence should be sent on company or agency letterhead with requisite signatures included.
• We will not comply with overly broad or vague requests.

• The legal process should identify the user for whom information is being requested.
• Users should be identified by their 17-18 digit user identification number.
• If the user identification number is unattainable, a username and four-digit discriminator should be provided.
• Instructions on how to identify a user can be found here.

• Be advised, users are allowed to change their usernames and four-digit discriminators, thus responses rendered by Discord may list different usernames and four-digit discriminators than those originally requested.
• All legal processes should comply with 18 U.S. Code § 2701-2712.

Emergency Requests

• If you believe that an emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury to any person requires disclosure without delay, please contact us at lawenforcement@discord.com with the subject line "Emergency Request," and provide the factual basis for the request so that we may evaluate it under 18 U.S.C. § 2702.
• We provide emergency disclosure responses only when enough information is provided for Discord to, in good faith, believe that the exigent situation requires disclosure of user information, as outlined in 18 U.S.C. § 2702.
• We do not disclose information for emergency requests unless they are from law enforcement.

Preservation Request

• Discord accepts requests to preserve records pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2703(f).
• We take steps to preserve account records once proper requests have been received and processed.
• Content and non-content information is preserved for 90 days, from the time of processing, and can only be extended for an additional 90 day period, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2703. In certain cases, an additional 90 days may be requested.
• Please reference the initial preservation request by providing the assigned ticket number and clear date range when sending legal process to obtain the preserved information.
• We are not permitted to disclose user information when solely in receipt of a preservation request.

International Legal Process Requests

• Please be advised that Discord is headquartered in and offers its services from the United States of America. Our customer data is stored exclusively in the United States.
• If you would like to obtain the requested information from Discord, please follow a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) or letters rogatory process so that a U.S. court might issue the required U.S. legal process to Discord.
• If an international legal process includes reports of child exploitation, Discord will investigate and take steps to archive these materials, remove them from our platform, and report any exploitative content.

Child Safety Policy

• When we are made aware of potential Child Safety concerns on our platform, our Trust & Safety team reviews the content and reports the content to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) or law enforcement where appropriate as required by 18 U.S.C. § 2258A. NCMEC will then work with local and international law enforcement as necessary.
• User accounts reported to NCMEC are archived and banned from our platform at the time of reporting.
• When submitting legal processes prompted by NCMEC reporting, include cybertip number and all of the user information provided.
• Law enforcement officials should indicate if a request pertains to a NCMEC reporting in the body of the email.

Data Retention Policy

• Discord does not require and generally does not possess names, addresses or other personal information, as we do not require that information on sign-up. The subscriber information that we possess is limited to an email address, and, if the user is a paid user, we might have limited billing information. In certain circ*mstances, we might also have a phone number the user has verified.
• Due to privacy concerns, Discord removes most user identifiers once a user is deleted, including username and discriminator.
• Users can always be located by their 17-18 digit UID number.
• More information regarding Discord's data retention and user privacy policy can be found here.
• Questions regarding Discord's privacy policy can be sent to privacy@discord.com.

User Notification

• Discord reserves the right to notify users if their information is requested by law enforcement.
• Court orders compelling non-disclosure are required to ensure the user is not notified pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2705.
• Non-disclosure orders should include a date range.
• Once a non-disclosure order has expired, an extension is required for continued compliance.
• Merely requesting Discord to not notify a user is not sufficient. ​​Discord reserves the right to notify users in those instances.

Cost Reimbursem*nt

• Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2706, Discord may require cost reimbursem*nt if the legal process is unduly burdensome or has associated cost.

EU Regulation 2021/784

• Under EU Regulation 2021/784 (addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online), Discord's Article 15 contact point is counterterrorism@discordapp.com and Discord's Article 17 legal representative is Discord Netherlands BV.

Still have questions?

Law enforcement should send any additional questions and/or legal process to:

lawenforcement@discord.com

If needed for mail service, our physical address is as follows:

Discord, Inc. 444 De Haro St, Suite 200 San Francisco, CA, 94107

If serving process by mail, please direct the mail to the Legal Department.