TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s attorney general is taking legal action against one of the most popular online chat platforms, saying it put children at risk while promising parents it was safe.Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a lawsuit against Discord, alleging the platform marketed itself as safe for children while failing to verify users’ ages, protect minors from strangers or keep predators off the app.Watch the entire news conference above“We’ve arrested more than 2,100 child predators in this state since I took office,” Uthmeier said. “Again and again, their trail to our kids leads back to Discord. Discord told parents that safety is at the core of everything they do. That was false. It’s time for this app to get serious about protecting our children or face serious consequences.”Discord markets itself to children as “all fun & games” and has more than 200 million monthly users worldwide, including roughly 2.7 million monthly active U.S. users under the age of 18 as of February 2024.Despite those numbers, Discord has not required age verification, meaning adults can pose as children with nothing more than an email address and a birthday.The lawsuit points to real cases in Florida that show the danger. A 60-year-old St. Cloud man posed as a 14-year-old boy and contacted nearly 300 minors on Discord and is now serving life in prison. A 19-year-old Highlands County man lured an 11-year-old Miami-Dade County girl from Roblox to Discord and then sexually assaulted and kidnapped her.”Invisible predators are locating Florida’s children online,” said Patti Rendon, District Four Hillsborough County School Board. “The Attorney General’s office is ensuring that online platforms know they have a responsibility to keep our children safe.”Uthmeier is asking the court to permanently bar Discord from operating without real age verification and collecting children’s data without parental consent.The state is also seeking civil penalties of up to $10,000 per willful violation of consumer protection law and up to $150,000 per violation where Discord had actual knowledge that a Florida child was under 18.This lawsuit follows Uthmeier’s investigation and subpoena of Discord in March. Six months later, on Sept. 22, Discord announced new teen safety settings, but the lawsuit alleges those changes are too little, too late.
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