Discord is one of the popular platforms for gaming. The platform has millions of users around the globe. And the best part is that anyone can start using the platform free of cost. However, in recent times, there is quite a lot of news coming out from different sources, which states that Discord is getting used for dangerous activities. Even the experts believe that the platform needs serious moderation.The main thought behind the platform is to communicate with others. Users are allowed to talk about politics, games, sports, listening to favorite songs, and watching movies. But Discord is in the news for some wrong reasons.Discord servers can be created from any region where the service is available. However, the platform is now being used for dating. There are quite a lot of servers being used for promoting relationships and underage dating. There are even servers that often ask users to list their interests, sexual orientation, and the nature of the romantic encounter they are looking for.Discord does ask users if they are over 18 years before joining channels and servers flagged as NSFW. But the platform lacks an age verification system. As a result, anyone can join any server. Hence, dating servers do have a huge number of underage users.

Teen couple on the beach; image by Tim Mossholder, via Unsplash.com.

However, according to the company’s policies, dating channels are against the rules. And they have said that they do not allow servers which are designed to facilitate teen dating on Discord. When Discord learns about such servers, the platform immediately takes action against them and shuts them down completely.Teen dating servers are against the policies of Discord as they lead to activities that are not valid as stated on the terms of services page. Additionally, the company is committed to making Discord a safe and positive place for everyone.However, the good part is that Discord acknowledged that their platform needs moderation. Hence, they are making their best effort to improve its moderation policies. Even according to Discord earlier this year, they have banned several Discord servers for violating the terms and conditions.Also, there are some sources that looked into Discord and found a bunch of Discord servers tagged as dating. These servers are often targeted to different communities. Some servers are directly aimed at users who are interested in BDSM. There are even certain servers that are advertising themselves as dating spaces for “teens only,” or from “13 to 17.”The existence of these dating servers made a lot of people worry, as the experts believe that we cannot simply assume that the kids are going to create safe servers. However, as the platform lacks age verification tools, it is quite hard to manage and protect users from sensitive channels. Even the users have admitted that it is definitely a hard task to deal with.Discord doesn’t have any plans of adding an age verification system to their platform. The company said that the dating servers violate the company’s terms and conditions, so must be removed. Also, as their blanket policy, they do not require age verification for adult dating servers. If the servers do contain content that is not suitable for the minors, then in such cases, the moderators are required to apply for an NSFW designation at the channel or server level. Discord also takes action if they get to know if any servers are allowing minors to participate in any of the NSFW content.