Florida Sues Discord, Alleging the Platform Misled Parents and Exposed Children to Predators
Tampa — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on October 15 that the state has filed a civil lawsuit against the communications platform Discord in Glades County circuit court, accusing the company of misleading parents about its safety and failing to protect children from sexual predators. The complaint alleges violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and the state's law protecting children in online spaces (§ 501.1735), along with claims of negligence, negligent misrepresentation and public nuisance. The allegations have not been proven in court.
In its release, the attorney general's office said Florida has arrested more than 2,100 child predators since Uthmeier took office, and that "again and again, their trail to our kids leads back to Discord." Discord told parents that safety is at the core of everything it does; "that was false," the release said. Uthmeier said the state's claims could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.
The state asks the court to permanently bar Discord from the practices alleged, including operating without real age verification and collecting children's data without parental consent; to impose civil penalties of up to $10,000 per willful violation of the deceptive trade practices act; up to $50,000 per violation of the children's online protection law, or up to $150,000 per violation where Discord had actual knowledge that a Florida child was under 18; and to order disgorgement and restitution, damages and abatement costs for the public nuisance, and attorney's fees.
The suit follows an investigation the attorney general's office opened in March, when it subpoenaed Discord for marketing materials discussing the platform's safety for children and any evidence the company knew adults were posing as children on the app. Discord announced new teen safety settings on September 22 and rolled out age verification for the first time in September. Uthmeier said the changes came "too little, too late": for years the platform's default settings let strangers send children friend requests and messages, and Discord still does not scan all private chats for rule-breaking.
Discord began as a social gaming network and, according to its website as cited by the Tallahassee Democrat, had more than 200 million monthly users and 90 million daily active users as of 2025. Discord says on its website that it has a "zero tolerance" policy toward child sexual abuse material and grooming. As of Thursday afternoon, the company had not publicly responded to the lawsuit. Bloomberg Law reported that Florida is the latest state to sue Discord; the attorneys general of Texas, New Jersey, Indiana, Nevada and Arkansas have previously sued the company over similar allegations.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：佛罗里达州议会大厦（塔拉哈西，前景为旧议会大楼、后方为新议会大楼）。图片来源：F McGady，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY 4.0。Photo: Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee (old capitol in front, new capitol behind). Image: F McGady, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
