Protect your privacy on Discord by changing these settings

With age verification rolling out to a host of online platforms, including Discord – it could even restrict your account if you don’t comply – it’s a good time to consider some of the data privacy options you have to protect your account and information. Many people use Discord as a platform for open discussion, not only while they game, but also to stay in touch with their friends and the communities they frequent. This also means that a lot of personal and sensitive data is linked to these communications and your use of the platform. Of course, there are also a few other aspects to consider, such as what information is visible on your profile, who can send you private messages or send you friend requests, and which apps you have allowed to access your account.

Every once in a while, it’s a good idea to take a break, review your data and privacy settings, and change anything that might give you pause. It’s actually pretty easy to do this on Discord, and you can do it from the desktop app, the web version, or the browser and mobile app. Open the version of Discord you prefer and look for the settings icon – a cog. Go to Data & Privacy in the left menu. Here you will find a wide variety of data settings to adjust, lock, or interact with.

If you scroll down to “Profile Privacy,” you can restrict what others see when they view your username on a server or your direct profile. You can also adjust what activity others see, overall or by server. You can even block servers and other users from seeing when you log in.

To adjust how Discord uses your account data, return to the Data & Privacy settings menu. In the “How Discord uses my data” section, check the settings and disable any options you don’t want enabled; disabling them all isn’t a bad idea. You can prevent the platform from using your data for analytics, personalizing your experience and marketing, and recording your voice in clips. Disabling certain settings may change your interactions and experiences on Discord, especially when it comes to content specific to your interests.

You can also disable the buttons in the “Sponsored Content” section to prevent personalized marketing content and the use of third-party data. If you turn them off, you’ll still get Discord quests to participate in, but they won’t be specific to you. Certainly, none of these toggles or settings prevent Discord from collecting your data. They simply change what the platform does with it. Naturally, some people don’t like how cumbersome the platform is when it comes to data collection. Its revealing privacy policy is one of the few reasons why users abandon Discord in favor of alternatives.

We’re not done yet. Under “Mail Permissions” you can adjust spam filters, disable friend request permissions (you’ll probably want to disable them for “everyone”), and adjust in-game messages. At the top you’ll see “Content Filters”, where you can set whether graphic or adult media is allowed; you might want to change that. You can prevent graphic content from being sent in direct messages and appearing on servers you have joined. The blur option lets you choose whether you want to see it, giving you a buffer to decide, while blocking prevents it from appearing at all.

Other settings to check include which apps can access your account and data. You may have authorized one or two apps in the past and then forgot about it. Removing permissions, especially for apps you no longer use, helps improve security. You can adjust them under Connected apps > Allowed apps. Scroll down, click the red Deauthorize button for those you want to remove, then confirm.

Additionally, if you have any payment methods connected to your account, old or new, you can delete them under Billing > Payment Methods. Deleting expired cards or accounts you no longer use is a good start. It’s not convenient, but you can also remove your primary payment method to keep it more secure and only enter it when you need to make a purchase or renew your subscription (if you have Nitro).

If you want to stop using Discord, you can either delete your account entirely or temporarily deactivate it if you know you’ll be returning or want to do so. Discord just got a huge splash with new features and will likely get more in the future. You can find both options under Account in the settings menu. To delete your account, click on the big red button; To temporarily disable it, click the transparent button just above.