Discord is a popular chat client that PC gamers can use to talk with their friends while in the game. Text chat, voice chat, and even video chat are all aspects to this client that players can use to stay connected. Like many social platforms however, toxicity was bound to rise. This isn’t about trolling or memes, it’s about verified servers that are used to promote a threatening message. The Nordic Resistance Movement, The (Alt) Right Server, Iron March, and many others are just a few being taken down to protect the platform from facilitating hateful messages.
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“Discord has a Terms of Service (ToS) and Community Guidelines that we ask all of our communities and users to adhere to,” a Discord representative told Polygon. “These specifically prohibit harassment, threatening messages, or calls to violence. Though we do not read people’s private messages, we do investigate and take immediate appropriate action against any reported ToS violation by a server or user. There were a handful of servers that violated these ToS recently and were swiftly removed from the platform.”
Though we don’t know exactly when this mass purge started, many users were beginning to notice that a signifcant number of servers have been dropped over the past week, all of which were used to promote hateful rhetoric and violent behavior, many even outright claiming verbatim “pro-Nazi” ideals.
One of the groups taken down was the Atomwaffen Division (AWD) server, “Atomwaffen Division (AWD) is a terroristic national socialist organization that formed out of Iron March, an influential fascist forum that went offline in September 2017,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. “Members, who can be fairly described as accelerationists, believe that violence, depravity and degeneracy are the only sure way to establish order in their dystopian and apocalyptic vision of the world.” Their official logo can even be seen at the top of the article. It’s hard to dispute that there are pro-Nazi ideals when the it’s not only been named directly in their missives, but it’s right there in their imagery as well.
Discord has mentioned wanting to clean up their servers in the past in response to the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia last year that turned fatal. In an attempt to “reject organized hatred,” Discord is actively seeking servers that openly promote a hateful message, especially those inciting acts of violence.
“We unequivocally condemn white supremacy, neonazism, or any other group, term, ideology that is based on these beliefs,” Discord stated. “They are not welcome on Discord. While we don’t read people’s private servers, our Terms of Service explicitly forbid harassment, threatening messages, or calls to violence.”
Each case is reportedly being handled very carefully to make sure there is adequate proof with the ultimate goal of the community’s safety in mind.
