Some Public Discord Server Messages May Soon Show Up in Google Search

First, the panic-proofing: your Discord DMs are not about to land on Google. But if you hang out in one of Discord’s big public servers, some of what you type there could soon be findable on the open web.

Discord announced on October 27 that it’s making content from Discoverable Servers easier to find outside the app, in two steps.

Step one: November 16

Every Discoverable Server gets a public Server Web Page. Those pages can show automated summaries of what’s being discussed in the server’s channels. Discord says usernames won’t be shown in those summaries. Individual users can’t opt out of the summaries, but server admins can.

Step two: mid-December

This is the part getting all the attention. Starting in mid-December, and rolling out gradually over a few weeks, messages from public channels in Discoverable Servers can appear word for word on those web pages and in web search results, including Google. That only happens if the server’s admins allow it.

Discord says:

• Usernames and avatars won’t be shown next to those messages.
• Messages sent before mid-December won’t be included.
• Channels that are opted in get a label in the header, plus a pop-up so people know.

Which servers count?

Discoverable Servers are the big, open ones: at least 1,000 members, listed in Server Discovery, and joinable without an invite. Mashable puts the count at roughly 63,000 servers. Private servers, DMs and group DMs are excluded.

According to Engadget, channel messages are off by default (opt-in) in the EU, UK, Canada, Brazil, Australia and South Korea, and teen accounts are excluded.

How to opt out

For users, it’s one switch: User Settings → Data and Privacy → Channel Messages. Turning it off covers every Discoverable Server you’re in. One gotcha from Discord’s support page: switching it off later won’t pull down messages that were already shown, so you’d have to delete those yourself.

Admins can opt channels out under Server Settings → Web Presence. It’s on by default, so admins who don’t want this need to act.

My take

Public channels in giant servers were never exactly private, but “searchable on Google” is a different vibe than “scroll back 40,000 messages.” The opt-out is easy, which is good. The default-on part is what people are side-eyeing.

Are you flipping the switch off, or do you not care what Google finds in #general?

Sources: Discord blog, Discord support: Discoverable Content on the Web, Engadget, Mashable