At the Discord keynote event, company executives outlined plans for the platform’s future, including smarter safety features. Discord also aims to add more value for app developers and a better experience on mobile devices.
On the safety front, Discord is changing how bans and warnings work for all accounts. If a user breaches a rule, they get an automated message from Discord that explains what rule they broke. The message includes links to a modal that explains the issue and what account restrictions will apply as a result. The idea is to hopefully help people improve their behavior by explaining why the action was problematic, though some offenses, including violent extremism, will still end in bans. Sharing high-security government documents probably will too.
“These touchpoints provide more transparency into Discord interventions, letting users know how their violation may impact their overall account standing and gives information for them to learn from to be better digital citizens in the future,” Savannah Badalich, Discord’s head of policy, told GLHF during a media briefing.
Teen Safety Assist is the other major new feature, one that implements an automatic media filter for all images with potentially sensitive content in DMs, group chats, and servers. Users can click the image to remove the censor, similar to how the current spoiler filter works, and they can click again to re-apply. Adult users can toggle the same filter on or off in their account settings.
Teen users will receive safety alerts when an unknown person sends a message or friend request that prompts them to review the safety options available to them and respond, block, or mute.
Discord said the features are just one example of how the platform will use AI in new ways, though it’s essentially an extension of Discord’s current safety features. Users can toggle settings to block sensitive material in messages. The feature doesn’t always work well and frequently blocks safe material, so how astute the AI-powered improvements are remains to be seen.
Discord is also rolling out updates that let users integrate apps outside of voice channels, launch them more easily, and add them without admin permissions. App developers can add subscription fees and earn money from their creations, and all of this should run more smoothly on mobile devices. Discord on mobile should launch more quickly and handle media uploads more efficiently, and there’s an improved search function for mobile users as well.
These features and others are rolling out over the coming weeks and months, with some new changes and shop items already available for Nitro subscribers.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
