Discord Plans To Make Public Messages Searchable On Google
Discord will soon make public messages from large servers searchable on Google, but users can opt out. This change may affect user privacy.
Original reporting · zdnet.com
Original: “Your public Discord messages may soon appear in Google search results – how to opt out”
Read “Your public Discord messages may soon appear in Google search results – how to opt out” at ZDNET AI →
How this was written. Content Memory wrote this article with a language model from ZDNET AI’s reporting (model: @cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast); it describes that reporting rather than adding to it. The original, linked above, is the full story.
Key points from ZDNET AI’s report
- Discord plans to make public messages from large servers searchable on Google, but users can opt out.
- Server admins can choose which channels to display or hide, and can disable the server description.
- Regular users will be able to opt out of having their messages shown in mid-December, and can also toggle off personalized ads and data collection.
Discord, a popular instant messaging service, is making changes that may impact user privacy, according to ZDNET AI. The company plans to make public messages from large servers searchable on the web. This move comes after a recent controversy over age verification.
Normally, joining a Discord server requires an invitation link, but large servers can be joined through a feature called Server Discovery. Discord will create a web page for these servers, showing a description and summary of conversations. This will allow new members to join servers directly from the web page.
The new policy will apply to servers with a large number of members, and will show answers to questions from public channels in web searches. Server admins have been given tools to opt out of the program, and can choose which channels to show or hide.
Server admins can access the opt-out tools by going to their server settings, where they can select which channels to display or hide. They can also disable the server description if they want to keep their community private. Regular users will be able to opt out of having their messages shown in mid-December.
To opt out, users will need to go to their user settings and toggle off the option to share their message text and data. This will apply to all Discoverable Servers they belong to, so they won't need to update their preferences for each community. Users can also toggle off personalized ads and data collection.
The change will not affect private servers or smaller communities, only large servers that meet certain criteria. These servers must have a large number of members, be at least a few months old, and meet Discord's safety standards. The move may position Discord as an alternative to other online communities, such as Reddit.
Discord's decision to make public messages searchable may have significant implications for users and the company itself. As the service continues to evolve, it will be important to see how users respond to these changes and how Discord balances privacy concerns with its efforts to expand its reach.
Questions and answers
Which servers will be affected by the change?
Only large servers with a significant number of members, that meet certain criteria, will be affected.
Can users opt out of having their messages shown?
Yes, users can opt out by going to their user settings and toggling off the option to share their message text and data.
Will private servers be affected by the change?
No, private servers and smaller communities will not be affected by the change, only large servers that meet certain criteria.
