Discord — An Anatomy of Cyberbullying
The instant messaging social platform where toxic online bullying thrives.
[I produce electronic music as LUCKYKAT and run Katnap Music in case you’re not interested]
I started using Discord a few years ago and didn’t have any issues. I launched my own private channel for my electronic music project LUCKYKAT primarily for fans, music producers and to raise awareness for mental health.
I then joined other music related Discord servers for networking and gaining knowledge on electronic music production. They were also primarily positive.
I felt as if Discord was exactly what I had been looking for — a stronger, deeper version of Slack.
Cyberbully Attack #1
Things changed dramatically when I joined the server of a Twitch community which had a strong bias towards gaming. Very quickly, I noticed the average community member was way too young to be on Discord (under 13 years old) and this meant that the conversations were filled with hate, negativity and toxicity.
There was zero accountability and the moderators did nothing. In fact, they were leading the spread of hate.
