The Discord lawsuits over child safety are a coordinated wave of legal actions accusing the messaging platform of marketing itself as safe for young users while its default settings, weak age checks, and open direct messaging left minors exposed to predators. Four state attorneys general have sued, a fifth is investigating, and 146 private cases have been consolidated into a federal multidistrict litigation in California as of June 2026.1In re: Roblox Corporation Child Sexual Exploitation and Assault Litigation, MDL No. 3166
What Plaintiffs Say Discord Did Wrong
The allegations are strikingly similar across jurisdictions. Discord promoted its platform as safe for children while operating with safeguards that plaintiffs describe as largely cosmetic. Age verification, they say, amounted to a self-reported birthdate, letting children under 13 create accounts with no meaningful check. The “Safe Direct Messaging” feature, which Discord said would automatically scan and delete explicit media, allegedly failed to scan text messages and was largely ineffective at preventing the exchange of child sexual abuse material. Default settings, according to the complaints, were configured for “maximum exposure” rather than maximum protection.
The pattern behind the private cases is consistent: a child, often first contacted on a gaming platform like Roblox, is moved by an adult to Discord for private, unmonitored chat. The predator then grooms the child, escalating to sextortion, exploitation, or in some cases physical abuse.
The State Attorney General Lawsuits
Each state is suing under its own consumer protection statute, but the theory is the same one: Discord’s public safety claims did not match its actual operation, making the marketing deceptive.
New Jersey
New Jersey was first. Attorney General Matthew Platkin filed on April 17, 2025, in Superior Court in Essex County, alleging violations of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. The complaint targeted Discord’s claims about Safe Direct Messaging and its self-reported birthdate age gate. The state is seeking an injunction, civil penalties, and disgorgement of profits.
Nevada
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford filed an 81-page complaint on May 5, 2026, calling Discord “the go-to chat option for child abusers.” The suit alleges violations of the Nevada Deceptive Trade Practices Act and cites specific Nevada criminal prosecutions for sexual assault and grooming that were facilitated through the platform. Nevada is seeking injunctive relief and civil penalties of up to $25,000 for each violation directed at a minor.
Indiana
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a 70-page complaint on May 7, 2026, naming both Discord and Roblox under the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act. The suit was motivated in part by the death of Hailey Buzbee, a 17-year-old from Fishers, Indiana, who was found dead in Wayne National Forest in Ohio in February 2026 after being lured from her home by a 39-year-old man she had met through Roblox and Discord. The suspect, Tyler Thomas of Columbus, Ohio, faces federal charges of sexual exploitation of a minor; court documents indicate he communicated with Buzbee for months on both platforms. Indiana is seeking injunctive relief, disgorgement, and civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation.
Texas
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed on May 22, 2026, in a state district court in Collin County, alleging violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act. The complaint accuses Discord of describing its platform as having safety “at the core” while configuring accounts for “maximum exposure.” Texas is seeking mandatory maximum default safety settings, age verification, disgorgement, and civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation.
Florida
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier opened a civil investigation on March 18, 2026, issuing subpoenas covering marketing to children, age verification, moderation, parental controls, and records of exploitative activity going back to January 2022. No formal lawsuit had been filed as of mid-2026.
The Texas Emergency Order
The Texas case produced the fastest concrete result. On May 29, 2026, a Collin County judge signed an emergency temporary restraining order requiring Discord to immediately reconfigure four default settings for all Texas accounts: blocking sensitive content rather than blurring it, disabling friend requests from strangers, turning off direct-message social permissions, and setting spam filtering to its highest level. The order also barred Discord from marketing itself as “safe by design” or claiming a “zero-tolerance” policy where those claims were inconsistent with actual operations, and required the company to stop automatically deleting user violation records after 90 days. Bloomberg Law later reported that the restraining order was lifted.
The Federal Multidistrict Litigation
In December 2025, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation created MDL No. 3166, In re: Roblox Corporation Child Sexual Exploitation and Assault Litigation, assigned to Chief Judge Richard Seeborg in the Northern District of California. Although named for Roblox, the MDL includes cases against Discord and Snap. By June 2026 it had grown to 146 cases, with new filings continuing.
The legal theory in these private cases is built to survive Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields online platforms from liability for third-party content. Plaintiffs frame their claims as “design defect” cases rather than content-based ones, arguing that Discord’s open direct messaging, weak age verification, and lack of meaningful parental controls make the product itself defective. The approach relies on a 2025 Ninth Circuit decision, John Doe 1 v. Twitter, Inc., which held that certain negligence claims treating a platform as a “product designer” rather than a “publisher” can proceed outside Section 230’s shield.
Section 230 and Arbitration: How Discord Is Fighting Back
Discord’s defense rests on two pillars, and each has produced a significant ruling going in opposite directions.
On the Section 230 side, an Ohio federal judge dismissed Jane Doe v. Discord Inc. on April 20, 2026. The plaintiff alleged she had been sexually abused as a minor by a known sex offender through the platform. The court found all claims barred by Section 230, ruling that Discord’s configuration choices, moderation decisions, and design features were protected “editorial choices,” and rejected the plaintiff’s attempt to reframe her negligence and failure-to-warn claims as something other than publisher liability. The judge also denied a request to transfer the case to the Northern District of California for consolidation with the MDL.
The arbitration fight has gone the other way. On February 24, 2026, the San Mateo County Superior Court denied motions by Discord and Roblox to compel arbitration in a case involving a 10-year-old girl who alleged grooming, kidnapping, and sexual assault. The court held that the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, a federal law enacted in 2022, applied. The judge rejected arguments that the statute was limited to workplace disputes, finding Congress intended it to cover “any case which relates to the sexual assault dispute,” and found that Discord had not shown the minor “knowingly and voluntarily waived her statutory rights” under the act.
Safety Changes Discord Has Announced
As the litigation has expanded, Discord has rolled out safety measures that plaintiffs argue are overdue and insufficient. In early March 2026, the company began a global rollout of “teen-by-default” settings that automatically place accounts not verified as adult under stricter protections: filtering for sexually explicit and graphic media, restricted access to age-gated channels and servers, routing of messages from unknown users to a separate inbox, and warning prompts for friend requests from strangers.
The company also announced a global age assurance system combining machine-learning age inference, facial age estimation, and government ID submission. Discord said its internal model can predict a user’s age group from account signals such as account age, payment methods, and activity patterns, meaning over 90 percent of users would not need to take additional verification steps. Any biometric processing, the company said, occurs on-device, with no facial data transmitted to Discord’s servers.
The full global rollout of age assurance was delayed. On February 24, 2026, Discord pushed the timeline from March to the second half of 2026, citing user backlash and a desire to expand verification options, increase vendor transparency, and publish more technical documentation. The system was active in the UK and Australia as of mid-2026 due to local legislation. Discord also announced plans for a “Teen Council” of 10 to 12 members aged 13 to 17 to advise on product features and safety policies, and said it does not sell age assurance data or use it for targeted advertising.
Where Things Stand
The New Jersey case, filed in April 2025, remains pending with no reported rulings on motions to dismiss or settlement. The Nevada, Indiana, and Texas cases are all in early stages. Florida’s investigation is active but has not produced a complaint. The federal MDL continues to grow, with 146 cases consolidated before Judge Seeborg as of June 2026. Discord has secured at least one outright dismissal on Section 230 grounds in Ohio, but lost its arbitration challenge in California, and the Ninth Circuit’s ruling in Doe v. Twitter has given plaintiffs a viable path to argue around Section 230 by framing their claims as design defect cases rather than content moderation disputes.