What categories of personal data are listed in Discord's privacy policy 2025?
Executive summary
Discord’s public privacy documents list broad categories of personal information — identifiers, contact and profile data, content you provide (messages, posts, avatars), device and usage data, transaction and payment records, and derived information used for safety and personalization [1] [2]. The company updated and clarified these categories in late‑2025 policy notices that go into effect September 29, 2025 and in August 2025 safety/privacy communications [3] [4].
1. What Discord explicitly calls “categories” of personal data
Discord’s archived and current policy language groups collected information into recognizable categories used by privacy laws: identifiers (usernames, emails, phone numbers), commercial/transaction information (records of purchases), and user‑provided content such as public posts, profile fields, avatars, server names and icons [1] [2]. The policy text cited in Discord’s archived and live pages repeats that these categories underpin how Discord processes, contacts, and secures accounts [1] [2].
2. Content and public metadata: more than just text
Discord emphasizes that “content” includes what users post and what is widely available on the platform — public posts, usernames, avatars, banners, user profiles, server names, icons and banners — and that this content is used not only to provide services but also to train systems to detect policy violations [2]. The company states it uses this information to automate detection and categorize prohibited conduct [2].
3. Device, usage and derived information for product and safety
The policy and update notices make clear Discord collects device and usage signals and derives additional information for personalization, safety and ad/“sponsored content” purposes. The August 2025 update expressly notes Discord may acquire third‑party data to understand interests and to show relevant sponsored content; it also clarifies how the company uses content to provide, develop and improve services [4]. The support pages for Data Privacy Controls reference where users can manage how Discord uses their data [5].
4. Payment and commercial records, and legal/regulatory addenda
For users who transact on the platform, Discord lists commercial information — records of purchases — in its categories, and the archived policy specifically calls out payment/transaction records under collected categories [1]. Discord also points readers to jurisdictional specifics (EEA, UK, California) and to how disclosure rules like California’s “Shine the Light” and CCPA apply to the listed categories [1] [6].
5. Policy changes in 2025: clarity and new uses flagged
Discord’s 2025 policy updates (effective Sept. 29, 2025) and communications stress clarification rather than wholesale change: they say practices around content use “have not changed” but the wording was simplified and expanded to describe how data may be used for personalization, safety and ad targeting — and that users have controls [3] [4]. The updates also added detail about privacy rights across jurisdictions and about how Discord may combine internal and third‑party data for personalization and measurement [3] [4].
6. Where transparency is strong — and where reporting notes gaps
Discord’s public pages list categories and point users to controls and jurisdictional rights, and the archived policy enumerates identifiers and commercial info explicitly [1] [6]. Available sources do not mention a single, consolidated checklist in the 2025 policy that itemizes every narrow subcategory (for example, precise biometric or health data fields) beyond the broad headings shown in archived and live pages; the reporting instead focuses on high‑level groupings and new uses like ad personalization [2] [4] [1].
7. Practical takeaways for users concerned about scope
Users should assume Discord collects identifiers, profile/content data, device and usage signals, transaction records and derived information used for safety and personalization and may acquire third‑party data for advertising and measurement [1] [4] [2]. To act on those categories, Discord points users to Data Privacy Controls in settings and to the policy’s “How to control your privacy” sections and jurisdictional pages for exercising rights [5] [6].
Limitations and sourcing note: this summary relies on Discord’s public privacy pages, archived policy text, and official update notices provided in the source set; where the sources don’t list a specific data element or claim, I note that those specifics are not found in current reporting [2] [1] [3] [4] [5].