Misgendering and deadnaming is a bannable offense on Discord
Back in early December last year, Discord updated its hateful conduct policy. This policy helps establish what can or cannot be shared on Discord, such as hate speech against the LGBTQ+ community as well as other marginalized communities.
Looking at Discord’s hateful conduct policy, it defines hate speech as “any expression that degrades, vilifies, or dehumanized individuals, incites intense feelings of hostility towards defined groups, or promotes harm based on protected characteristics.”
To make sure it hammered home exactly what it meant, Discord explicitly states that users must not post, share, or engage in “repeatedly using slurs to degrade and demean individuals or groups. This includes deadnaming or misgendering a transgender person.” Another bannable offense was calling for the segregation of marginalized groups, as well as general discrimination about by spreading “unfounded claims” and “perpetuating stereotypes” through “derogatory generalizations and insulting misrepresentations.”
To avoid violating these policies has also been shared. One way that stands out is Discord’s urging its users to double-check reputable sources in order to avoid “conspiracy theory” content that has “roots in hateful ideology.”
According to Tech Crunch, the expansion of the hateful conduct policy was internally adopted back in 2022. However, it was made public this month as an annual review in order to provide more transparency to users on what could get them banned.
“As part of our ongoing efforts to ensure Discord remains a safe and fun place for people to hang out with friends, we continually evaluate potential harms and update our policies,” a Discord spokesperson summarized to TechCrunch. “We often work with organization and subject matter experts to ensure our policies accurately encompass a holistic view of how these issues manifest across the internet and society.”
With the updated policy, LGBTQ+ advocacy group GLAAD took note and — responding to the Discord update, wrote a blog post that urged all social media platforms to adopt similar policies to protect trans users.
It’s no secret that in 2023 alone violence against trans people has risen, no doubt helped by prominent figures spouting hate speech on social media platforms such as X (previously known as Twitter), as well as the platforms themselves having next to no interest in enforcing their own policies against hateful conduct. After all, X removed its own policy against deadnaming trans people back in April 2023.
With this new update from Discord, those who are in severs who have violated the platform’s policies or engaged with violating content (but did not post it themselves) will receive a warning. The warning will explain what users may have done wrong, as well as provide resources about Discord’s rules. Appropriate restrictions (depending on the severity of harm) will also be placed on the user’s account.
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