Board Members List.pdf

Established in 1962, NCOSE is a non-partisan nonprofit dedicated to addressing sexual exploitation.
Discord has been placed on the Dirty Dozen List for the third year in a row due to its failure to implement sufficient safety practices, resulting in a proliferation of exploitative and harmful content.
The platform has been found to host image-based sexual abuse, child sexual abuse materials, grooming, and hardcore pornography easily accessible to minors.

Key Findings and Concerns

NCOSE researchers have found evidence of harms and hazards on Discord, including deepfake communities and servers containing links to deepfake pornography websites.
A 2022 article exposed the reality of sexual grooming and exploitation on the platform, with parents reporting instances of abuse that were dismissed by Discord.
A recent report by Parents Together found that 45% of children who used Discord were exposed to sexual content, and 18% received explicit requests from strangers.
Discord has been found to be one of the top five apps for severe sexual content, severe bullying, and hate speech.

Recommendations for Discord

1. Prioritize image-based sexual abuse and child sexual abuse material prevention and removal by instituting robust age and consent verification.
2. Automatically default all minors' accounts to the highest level of safety and privacy available on the platform.
3. Age-gate servers that contain age-restricted channels and automatically block minors from joining such servers.
4. Develop and implement caregiver controls to allow parents to monitor their child's experience on Discord.
5. Permanently suspend Pornhub's verified Discord account.

Call to Action

NCOSE recommends that Discord ban minors from using the platform until it is radically transformed to ensure user safety.
* Discord should consider banning pornography until substantive age and consent verification for sexually explicit material can be implemented.