What you write on some Discord servers could stop staying confined to the app, because the platform announced that it will start showing messages from its public servers in Google searches and other search engines, a feature that will reach the discoverable servers with at least 1,000 members, that will publish messages word-for-word on dedicated web pages for each server, and that will be enabled by default for most users, although you can turn it off from the privacy settings with a couple of clicks.
The change will arrive in two stages, since November 16 is the date when Discord will add these web pages to all its discoverable servers, and from mid-December its messages could appear in search results without displaying the username or the avatar of the author, although private servers, direct messages and groups are excluded, and disabling the option does not delete what you wrote before, so it is wise to review your settings as soon as possible if you don’t want your Discord messages ending up on Google.
What Discord messages will appear in Google
The feature only affects the discoverable servers, which are the ones with at least 1,000 members and to which anyone can join without an invitation, and within them only the channels that their administrators enable, according to Tech Insider.
Discord explained the idea with an example, noting that “the answers to the questions your members posted in public channels will be searchable on the web, in their own words”, something designed for support communities, gaming groups, or projects that want to be easier to find.
That said, even if your username and avatar do not appear, the text of your messages could include identifying details, such as your name, your city, or personal information you have written, so it pays to think twice before sharing such things in a public server.
How to prevent your Discord messages from appearing in Google
- Open Discord on your computer or mobile device, and sign in with your account.
- Go to User Settings. On desktop, click the gear icon located at the bottom-left, next to your name, and on mobile tap your profile photo at the bottom-right and then the gear.
- Open the Data & Privacy section in the settings menu, and scroll down to find the option labeled New with the purple tag.
- Disable the option “Show the content of my messages from discoverable channels on the web”, toggling the switch to the right until it turns gray, which means it is off.
This change applies to all the discoverable servers you’re part of, so you don’t have to repeat it for each one, though keep in mind that Discord may take some time to enable this option on your account, so if you don’t see it yet, it’s worth checking again in a few days.
What the switch doesn’t solve
Disabling the option does not delete the messages you wrote while it was enabled, so if you want any of them not to appear in Google, the only way is to delete them directly from the server.
Additionally, users cannot opt out of channel summaries, a feature that Discord creates from conversations and that only server administrators can control.
What server administrators can do
If you manage a discoverable server, you can remove your entire server or just certain channels from this feature by going to Server Settings > Web Presence, where channel summaries are also controlled, which is useful for communities that prefer to keep their conversations away from search engines.
For now, Discord has not published an exact December date, and some reports indicate that in certain countries, such as those in the European Union, the option would be off by default due to privacy laws, though this has not been officially confirmed, so it is safest to review your settings anyway.