Discord Implements Ban on Deadnaming and Misgendering

Discord, the popular chat app, has recently updated its hateful conduct policy to include specific behaviors that go against its mission to promote acceptance and inclusivity. The newly added bannable behaviors now include deadnaming or misgendering transgender individuals.

Although Discord began implementing this policy internally in 2022, they have now made it public to increase transparency. The company spokesperson stated, “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.” Discord collaborated with experts to accurately encompass a comprehensive view of these issues across the internet and society.

Alongside misgendering and deadnaming trans people, Discord also considers expressing contempt or disgust towards protected groups, perpetuating negative stereotypes, using slurs to degrade them, threatening violence against them, and advocating for their segregation and exclusion as hateful behaviors.

This move has garnered praise from the LGBT organization GLAAD, as it calls for social networks to recognize deadnaming and deliberate misgendering as hate speech. GLAAD also highlights that out of the major social networks, TikTok is the only one explicitly prohibiting intentional misgendering and deadnaming. It is worth noting that Twitter, now known as X, had previously implemented a rule against this behavior but quietly removed it from its hateful conduct policy under Elon Musk’s leadership.

However, Discord’s banning system does not immediately remove users for a single violation. They operate on a warning system, whereby users receive direct messages detailing the offense committed. The platform weighs the severity of each violation differently and marks accounts in their settings page accordingly. Accounts with multiple violations are marked “at risk,” while severe or repeated violations may result in permanent suspension.

Source: Discord could ban users if they continue to deadname trans people