Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Discord Inc. on Friday, accusing the messaging platform of misleading parents about user safety while allowing predators to exploit children through its services.
The lawsuit alleges that Discord “built and maintains one of the internet’s most efficient hunting grounds for manipulation, grooming, and predatory behavior towards children” and claims the company knowingly prioritized growth and user accessibility over child safety.
Paxton’s office said the investigation into Discord began in October 2025 after reports tied the platform to the assassin who murdered Charlie Kirk. The attorney general’s office also cited concerns that the platform exposed minors to sexual exploitation, extremist content, and addictive behavior.
“Discord has allowed and invited all kinds of nihilistic violence and evil. My office is taking action to protect our nation’s precious children from predators,” Paxton said in a statement. “We live in a time where the dangers children face online have never been greater, and every parent in Texas deserves to know their child is protected.”
The state alleges Discord falsely promoted its platform as safe for children while maintaining design features that enabled predators to contact minors privately and avoid detection. According to the lawsuit, Discord combined pseudonymous identities, direct messaging, private group channels, voice and video communication, and invitation-based communities into a platform structure that prosecutors have described as a “hunting ground” for exploitation.
The lawsuit points to several cases involving minors, including a 13-year-old Texas girl who was allegedly groomed on Discord over several years before being sexually assaulted in her home. Another case involved a 15-year-old boy who was allegedly coerced into sending sexually explicit material through Discord’s messaging system before later dying by suicide. The filing also references a 13-year-old Washington state boy who died by suicide after allegedly being targeted by the extremist “764” network operating on Discord servers.
According to the lawsuit, NBC News identified 35 criminal cases over six years involving kidnapping, grooming, or sexual assault connected to Discord communications, along with another 165 cases involving the transmission or receipt of child sexual abuse material through the platform.
The state further alleges Discord failed to implement meaningful safety protections despite warnings from federal prosecutors, the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Senate, and attorneys general in multiple states.
The lawsuit accuses Discord of making safety protections optional instead of default settings, relying on unpaid volunteers for key moderation functions, allowing violations to expire after 90 days, and making safety tools difficult to access.
Paxton is seeking court orders requiring Discord to implement maximum safety settings by default for new users and adopt age-verification measures under Texas’ Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment, or SCOPE, Act.
The state is also seeking restitution of revenue allegedly tied to unlawful conduct, civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, attorney’s fees, and court costs.
The lawsuit also notes previous actions against Discord in other states. Attorneys general in New Jersey, Nevada, and Indiana have filed or announced legal action alleging the platform failed to adequately protect minors from predators and harmful content.
