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Discord is making public chats searchable on Google: How to opt out
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- DeepHorus
Discord will make messages from its largest public servers searchable on Google, Discord announced Tuesday. The policy covers Discoverable Servers—communities with at least 1,000 members in Discord’s public directory that do not require an invitation. The change raises privacy concerns because conversations once confined will reach wider web audiences.
From Nov. 16, every Discoverable Server will have a web page with summaries of public channel discussions. From mid-December, individual messages in eligible channels may appear in search results. Messages posted before the rollout will not be included, and usernames and avatars will be excluded.
Discord said communities have shifted from message boards to its servers, leaving answers hard to find. Critics worry public chats will reach unintended audiences; supporters say searchability will make answers easier to find. Cointelegraph found nearly 800 servers tagged “cryptocurrency,” around 1,400 tagged “trading,” and more than 700 tagged “finance.” Discord says over 63,000 Discoverable Servers exist.
Users can opt out before mid-December through User Settings > Data & Privacy by turning off “Show my message content from Discoverable channels on web pages.” It covers all Discoverable Servers a user joins. The feature will be off by default in Australia, the EU, the EEA, the UK, Canada, Brazil, and South Korea, and for teens.
Users can disable it after launch, but that protects only messages sent after opting out. To remove an eligible message, users must delete it from Discord; search engines may retain cached copies. Administrators can block channels or entire servers via Server Settings > Web Presence.
Discord plans to begin rolling out discussion summaries in November. Discord said valuable information was locked in conversations, inaccessible to the wider internet. The move reflects a tension between making community knowledge accessible and protecting privacy as public chats join the searchable web.
