Florida Sues Discord, Saying the App Failed to Protect Children From Predators

Florida sued the messaging and gaming platform Discord on Thursday, October 15, accusing the company of failing to protect children from sexual predators while telling parents the service was safe. Attorney General James Uthmeier announced the lawsuit in Tampa and filed it the same day in Glades County circuit court.

Uthmeier said his office has arrested more than 2,100 child predators since he took office, and that the trail to children leads back to Discord again and again. Discord told parents that safety sits at the core of what it does, and that claim was false, he said. Predators pose as children on the platform, win trust, and move talks into private channels, the state says.

The lawsuit follows an investigation that Uthmeier opened in March 2026. His office subpoenaed Discord for its safety marketing material and for evidence that it knew adults were posing as children on the app. The state says Discord made some changes after the subpoenas, but not enough.

What the lawsuit claims

The 65 page complaint accuses Discord of deceptive and unfair trade practices, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, and public nuisance. It also says the company broke Florida law on protecting children online and misused the personal information of Florida children.

The complaint cites eight incidents between 2022 and 2026 in which an adult used Discord to exploit a minor, each with a Florida attacker or victim. In one case, a 60 year old man from St. Cloud posed as a 14 year old boy, contacted nearly 300 minors, and is now serving life in prison. In another, a 29 year old man from Tennessee is accused of grooming and kidnapping an 11 year old girl from Marion County.

For years the default settings let strangers send children friend requests and messages, and Discord still does not scan all private chats, Uthmeier said. Offenders often make first contact on other apps, then move the conversation to Discord, the state says.

What Florida wants

Florida asks the court to order Discord to stop collecting data from children without parental consent, to hand over money made from Florida users through the practices it calls deceptive, and to pay damages and legal fees. It also demands real age verification and steps that stop banned users from opening new accounts.

The penalties alone could run to hundreds of millions of dollars. The state seeks up to 10,000 dollars for each willful breach of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, up to 50,000 dollars for each breach of the state law on children online, and up to 150,000 dollars for each breach where Discord knew the user was a Florida child under 18. None of the claims has been proven in court.

Discord and the wider fight

Discord began as a chat tool for gamers and now reports more than 200 million monthly users and 90 million daily users. In September 2026 the company rolled out age verification, using a system that estimates age and asks some users to prove their identity before they can open age restricted content. Uthmeier called the change too little and too late.

Discord says on its website that it has a zero tolerance policy toward child sexual abuse material and grooming. By Thursday afternoon it had not publicly answered the lawsuit.

Florida is not the first state to sue. Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, and Texas have all filed cases against Discord over child safety. Uthmeier has also taken Meta, Snap, TikTok, and Roblox to court on similar grounds.