"It's time to leave Discord" Masterpost
This is a continuously edited post, revisit on my blog for updates. Last updated: 3/30/26
LONG POST TABLE OF CONTENTS:
What's up with Discord? Why's it bad? Tools for migrating away from Discord Is there any way to fight for privacy online? So what are the Discord alternatives? Intro to Matrix (How hard is it to get started?) Deeper dive into Matrix Conclusion & TL;DR
What's up with Discord? Why's it bad?
Various countries are beginning to put "Age Verification" legislation in place (more on that later). This affects social media platforms, including Discord. The stated goal is to protect children, but the methods used are easy to bypass and call for constant surveillance of every internet user. This approach is more effective at removing anonymity and privacy from the internet than controlling what content someone can access. Massive amounts of private data are collected and stored out of user's hands and this can be traded or leaked, which puts someone at higher risk of doxxing and identity theft. This is also a risk to free speech, as a person's online activity can be linked to them in real life and have a chilling effect on protest and discussion of sensitive topics.
Discord is bending over backwards to accommodate this kind of legislation as quickly as possible even in places it's not yet law. Their choice of third party service to send user IDs and face scans for Age Verification is uniquely concerning, as Persona is connected to the founder of state surveillance company Palantir (update 2/28/26: Discord recently stated they are backing away from partnership with Persona).
Users in the UK and Australia have already had anime or meme channels blocked in servers without 18+ settings enabled, had entire servers blocked for one 18+ channel, or had images sent in DMs automatically filtered. This shows that not only has moderation control been removed from server owners and communities, but Discord monitors your posts even in private messages.
Here's a summary of just how invasive Discord is, including a report conducted by the FTC.
Here are a few excerpts from Discord's privacy policy:
"We collect... Content you create. This includes any content that you upload to the service. For example, you may write messages or posts (including drafts), send voice messages, create custom emojis, or post other content that you create with features that we develop. You may also upload and share files through the services. This also includes your profile information and the information you provide when you create servers. We generally do not ((Note: read this as 'we are allowed to, and do')) store the contents of video or voice calls or channels... We also don’t store streaming content when you share your screen, but we do retain the thumbnail cover image for the stream for a short period of time. We collect... information such as the friends you add, the users, bots, and apps you engage with, the servers or other communities you join and participate in, your roles in servers, content moderation decisions you make, information about purchases or sales you make on or through Discord including what you purchased or sold, and other related actions. We may also collect limited information from your device while Discord is running (such as the game you are playing)."
Your actions when the program is running should all be considered data that is being collected and can be used without your consent. Even if Age Verification compliance is handled less carelessly, Discord's level of data collection is deeply invasive and their protection of user privacy and safety Sucks. It's also important to understand all the data Discord collects on you is theirs to hand over "if Discord is evaluating and/or engaging in a merger, acquisition, reorganization, bankruptcy, or sale, transfer, or change in ownership of Discord or any of its assets."
Further reading about Age Verification & previous Discord data leaks:
- https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/discord-faces-backlash-over-age-checks-after-data-breach-exposed-70000-ids/ - https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/so-youve-hit-age-gate-what-now - https://gizmodo.com/reddit-meta-and-google-voluntarily-gave-dhs-info-of-anti-ice-users-report-says-2000722279
- "if we were really trying to protect kids" - Alternative Age Verification strategy that doesn't require a surveillance state
Tools for migrating away from Discord:
Note: Deleting your account doesn't delete your messages, attachments and reactions- that has to be done manually. Discord claims once the messages are deleted, they're no longer stored on their servers. For very sensitive personal information, an extra safety step is to edit a message to random text before deleting, because change logs for posts are less likely to be kept. - https://discorch.org/ - Navigating the request of your info and deleting your messages from Discord
- https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/discrub/ - browser add on for backup and deletion of messages (chrome version also exists)
- https://eyeslikes.tumblr.com/post/808641585169481729 Actions to express disapproval of Discord
Is there any way to fight for privacy online?
Being willing to step outside of platforms like Discord, or at least look the problem in the face, is hard by design. These companies fill a lot of needs in our lives as conveniently as possible because keeping users captive is how they profit and grow. It can feel like the easiest and only option is to give up, assume there's nothing better possible, and remain feeling trapped and powerless. Step one is understanding that's just not true! On an individual level, you can make personal choices to prevent your data being collected at all. Some choices take more work, but some are surprisingly simple. Collectively, we have even more power to reject this new onslaught on all internet users.
🟡Age Verification laws like KOSA & COPPA will spread and affect the entire internet until we pressure our lawmakers to overturn and reject legislation. Everyone needs to educate other social media users that this doesn't protect kids, it's an invasion of private spaces, expands state surveillance, and censors/chills free speech. 🟡
"Protect the children" looks great on paper, so people that are less informed are unlikely to go against this kind of proposal unless they hear loudly that this isn't how we make the internet safer.
So what are the Discord alternatives?
There are a lot of older chat clients like Teamspeak and IRC. Signal uses end to end encryption and is a more secure option for texting/calling and small group chats. Currently, there are only a few programs that have the potential to host large communities with most of Discord's features and a familiar layout. While waiting on your communities to decide if/where to move, I recommend using Signal for private conversations about real life or personally identifying information.
Three of the most talked about options that are Discord-Like are Root, Stoat, and Matrix. Update 3/19/26: Fluxer is now a very strong contender.
Root is closed source and centralized like Discord and other social media apps. This means even if it's fantastic to start, over time its business model prioritizes treating users as an asset that will eventually be sold for shareholder profit. Not recommended. ❌
Stoat seems to be an easy to swap to alternative but has had to shut down features and is struggling due to the huge influx of new users. My personal experience has encountered a lot of bugs as well as limited features. ❔
Fluxer is a discord clone with promises of better features and security, but both it and Stoat are the projects of just one or two people now scrambling to develop the infrastructure, staff, and policies of much larger platforms. It's best to expect to see them both change a lot a short time. ❔
It's very important to note that all of these alternatives must comply with the Age Verification laws. How they decide to comply and moderate content on their services is their own choice. I haven't bothered to look into Root's statement. Stoat, which is UK based and therefore subject to some of the stricter laws already, seems to be relying on users flagging content 18+ manually within their communities rather than automated message scanning. I don't yet have info on how they will comply with age verification.
Update 3/27/26: Fluxer's legal policy has been rapidly developed and I'm both reading through personally and looking to ToS;DR for a summary. Fluxer has granular strategies that vary per region to avoid ever collecting personally identifying information based on specific local laws. Update 3/30/26: The approach to Age Verification laws look about as good as possible, but there are a few concerns unrelated to AV. Fluxer's current auto-moderation of user images is not ideal, sending attachments to a third party until an in-house solution can be developed. The overall policies look significantly better than Discord's but there are other points of concern I'll continue to look into before endorsing. Matrix's statement is that the service is considered 18+ by default and they are still deliberating on how they will comply with legislation outside of a credit card transaction. Matrix is security and anonymity focused, so it's reasonable to believe they will avoid collecting or sharing data that isn't essential to comply with the law.
Because Matrix is the most secure, established option and has strong future proofing potential, I dove into it to see if it's possible for casual users to use comfortably. I hope this crash course will help you decide if it's the right fit for you and your community.
Intro to Matrix (How hard is it to get started?)
It can be as simple as downloading a program and making an account, but please, be sure to read the bit below about Verification to save yourself frustration later. My current personal recommendation is to make an account on Federated Nexus' homeserver, use Cinny client in your browser or as a PWA on mobile, and Element X if you need a mobile app.
Matrix, unlike Discord, isn't just one chat program that connects to one huge website. There are various Clients like Element, Cinny, Commet, and Fluffychat that all connect to Matrix's networks of servers. It's similar to how you can use different browsers like Chrome or Firefox to access the same internet, which is not one website but many.
When you get started, you'll choose a client and then make an account on a home server. "Home Servers" may be open to the public, like the default home server, Matrix.org, or privately owned and closed to strangers. The terms of service and privacy policies are decided by the server owners. Instead of one set of rules written by a company, you can shop around. You can also host your own instead of using a public server. Home servers can choose to share a population of users by "Federating" with each other, or remain separate.
Clients are the software you install on your computer or phone. They are different programs with different features and UI, but accounts on connected home servers can talk to each other on any app. Some, like Cinny, are more friendly to discord refugees, while the flagship client Element is not much like discord, but has more features than some others. Matrix is "Decentralized" and "Open Source" - anyone can own their own server, anyone can use the public code to develop their own compatible clients.
Importantly, a security feature that may cause some friction is Verification. When End to End encryption is enabled, it means absolutely nobody can access the contents of your private messages from the outside. But, you will need to set up a verification key (a kind of long password your chat client will generate for you) so you can prove it's really you when you log out and back in.
If you don't set up this key, it won't show you messages in encrypted chats and rooms. If you use both desktop and phone, for example, you will have to do a kind of handshake confirmation in both clients so each one knows it's really you. You can use your key to verify if you don't have a second client logged in, too.
You won't have to verify every time you open a client- only when you log out and back in, or log into a new client or session for the first time.
That's it, the rest is normal "getting used to new software"- adjusting settings, getting used to missing features. The next section is for people curious why to bother with something like Matrix, especially people looking to lead their communities off Discord.
Deeper dive into Matrix
Matrix's disadvantage is an upfront learning curve and putting in effort to shop through the many options. Having to help teach people on the casual user-end side can also be challenging and some people will avoid Matrix outright thinking it's too complex for non techy people.
Free, existing public servers should be enough for most casual users, but if you want to lead a larger community or eventually own your own server for long term stability and control, you either need to have the savvy yourself, have a trusted IT person, or be willing to pay a rent/subscription fee to a service that will host your server for you. Even if prices aren't very high, it's an investment that asks more of server owners, which is another disadvantage.
Here are the advantages:
In the long term, Matrix's complexity is meant for greater potential security and to avoid the cycle of Enshittification (a service starting out fantastic and then getting worse. Think ads, paywalling, unwanted feature bloat, anti-user invasions of privacy, etc). A decentralized and open source project is more flexible to adjust if one part becomes rotten. You have more choices and control over what you agree to, rather than becoming trapped in terms of service that benefit shareholders but not users of the service.
Being Federated means if you want full control, you can decide how open and connected your server is. You can be fully private, which means less traffic to manage, or connected to a wide network which allows a wider network of people to talk to. Note: Stoat has open source code for its chat client, but it doesn't allow federation, so privately hosted servers can't connect to their main servers. Fluxer is currently developing federation.
End to End Encryption means chats can't be intercepted or viewed by anyone but the members in those chats. Although e2e encryption is unrealistic on large, casual servers (you have to prove who you are on every device to see the contents of messages- for tech unsavvy users will likely cause problems), for small chats, the option of e2e encryption means the contents of people’s private conversations can't be handed to a third party.
There's a function called Bridging which allows Matrix to connect to other chat software. This allows you to view and interact with Discord, Stoat, or other apps from within your preferred Matrix client. What you post in those chats will still be managed by those apps and subject to their terms of service, so this is for convenience rather than making it more secure to use the others.
CONCLUSION, TL;DR:
- Discord is violating your privacy whether you give them anything. Age verification legislation doesn't protect kids, but it destroys anonymity from the internet and that puts everyone at more risk. Everyone needs to get more educated, teach others, and begin contacting their lawmakers regularly.
- There are other chat programs to consider that are still less invasive and risky to use than Discord. Consider swapping to Signal for small groups and texting. Matrix is an option for community chat that's more secure and resistant to enshittification than the others available, but it is less user friendly and has an upfront learning curve. There are free and mostly simple ways to use it as a casual end user. Community leaders can also own their server to gain complete control over whatever happens with it, but requires some cost and/or technical expertise.
I really hope this post could help demystify one of the strongest current options while people are still choosing what's best for them.
Whether anyone chooses to leave Discord (you should) or not, everyone needs to be invested in protecting online anonymity and careful of what you share about yourself. Do not just roll over and stop fighting because mass surveillance "is inevitable"- it really isn't! Take my hand. Complain loudly and frequently to your lawmakers. Try out new programs, invite your friends. Best of luck and stay safe.
