Discord used by extremists to recruit US youth, officials warned

Law enforcement agencies warned earlier this year that young people were being radicalized in Discord servers, according to documents obtained by NBC News.

State and federal law enforcement agencies warned earlier this year that young people were at risk of radicalization on the chat platform Discord, according to government documents obtained by NBC News.

Two intelligence assessments from the Department of Homeland Security and Ohio’s Statewide Terrorism Analysis & Crime Center (STACC) marked for distribution to police specifically cite Discord as a platform on which American youth have been exposed to extremist material from foreign terrorist organizations. Both documents are unclassified but marked “For Official Use Only.” They were obtained by the Property of the People, a pro-transparency nonprofit that seeks and publishes government documents through Freedom of Information Act requests, and shared with NBC News.

It’s unclear how widely disseminated the documents were, but law enforcement information centers like STACC routinely share warnings and analysis with other police agencies.

The reports, which draw on academic studies and law enforcement data, provide insight into how officials understand the risks of online radicalization. The FBI declined to comment and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not respond to a request for comment. Discord did not respond to a request for comment about the documents.

Discord, which was launched in 2015 as a communications platform for gamers, is particularly popular with young men — a 2023 Pew study found that a third of teen boys in the U.S. used it. Discord has previously faced criticism over its moderation practices. The platform allows for the creation of private chat groups on nearly any topic, and has long faced criticism over lax moderation. Co-founder and former Discord CEO Jason Citron testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee in January 2024 that Discord uses a mix of proactive and reactive tools to enforce its terms of service and community guidelines.