Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sues Discord, saying the chat app exposed children to predators

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued the chat and gaming platform Discord on Thursday, accusing the company of telling Florida families its app was safe for children while it failed to verify users' ages, shield minors from strangers or keep sexual predators off the service. The state is asking a court to force changes to how Discord operates and to impose civil penalties that could reach $150,000 for each violation of a Florida law protecting children online.

The lawsuit was filed in the 20th Judicial Circuit, which covers Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties, according to the News Service of Florida. Uthmeier announced the case at an event in Tampa. Discord did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment Thursday, the News Service reported.

What the lawsuit alleges

According to the attorney general's office, Discord markets itself to children as "all fun & games" and tells parents that "safety is at the core of everything we do." The state argues those promises were false. Adults can pose as children on the platform with nothing more than an email address and a birthday, the office said, and for years Discord's default settings allowed strangers to send children friend requests and messages. The state also says Discord still does not scan all private chats for rule violations.

"Discord was marketing itself as a safe play, all fun and games. Indeed, it became a playground for young people," Uthmeier told reporters in Tampa, according to the News Service of Florida. "Unfortunately, today it is a playground for some of the most evil, heinous offenders."

"It's easy to talk anonymously," he added. "Adults can get in with little to no age verification checks. Adults were able to pretend to be kids, prey upon kids, and unfortunately in too many cases, physically and sexually abuse kids."

The complaint opens with eight incidents in which an adult sexually exploited a minor through Discord, each involving a Florida perpetrator or a Florida victim, all between 2022 and 2026, the News Service reported. The attorney general's release highlighted two. In one, a 60-year-old St. Cloud man posed as a 14-year-old boy and contacted nearly 300 minors on Discord; he is now serving life in prison. In another, a 19-year-old Highlands County man lured an 11-year-old Miami-Dade County girl from Roblox to Discord, then sexually assaulted and kidnapped her, the office said.

The legal claims

The state alleges Discord violated the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and section 501.1735 of the Florida Statutes, a law that restricts how online platforms handle the personal information of children. The suit also brings claims of negligence, negligent misrepresentation and public nuisance.

Specifically, the attorney general's office says Discord:

• Engaged in unfair, unconscionable and deceptive practices by promising safety and failing to deliver it.
• Processed the personal information of Florida children with actual knowledge or willful disregard that doing so would lead to substantial harm or privacy risk.
• Breached its duty to use appropriate care in designing, marketing and distributing its platform.
• Negligently represented that the app was safe while knowing it was not safe for Florida children.
• Created a public nuisance that continues to jeopardize the health and safety of Florida children.

What Florida is asking the court to order

The state wants a permanent order barring Discord from the practices described in the complaint, including operating without real age verification and collecting children's data without parental consent. It also seeks restitution to consumers, forfeiture of money Discord collected from Floridians through the alleged misrepresentations, damages and the cost of abating the public nuisance, plus attorney's fees. The civil penalties the state is seeking break down this way, according to the attorney general's office:

"We need to send a message to Discord and all the other companies out there: Change your ways. Protect our kids," Uthmeier said in Tampa, according to the News Service of Florida. "Sure, make money and make profit, but do not choose profit over public safety. If you do that, we are going to make you pay a lot, and we are going to hold you accountable."

Discord's size and its own safety rules

The attorney general's office says Discord has more than 200 million monthly users worldwide, sells paid Nitro subscriptions to Florida users including children, and reported about 2.7 million monthly active U.S. users under 18 as of February 2024. The company's website listed 90 million daily active users as of 2025, according to the News Service of Florida.

Discord does not allow children under 13 to open accounts, but it does not verify users' ages, the News Service reported. On its website, the company says it has a "zero tolerance" policy toward child sexual abuse material and toward people who try to sexually groom users.

The state's complaint takes aim at recent changes, too. Discord announced new teen safety settings on Sept. 22, 2026, about six months after Florida opened its investigation, according to the attorney general's office, which called the changes too little, too late. "That late-breaking and insufficient announcement cannot undo the harm already caused in violation of Florida law; nor will it fully remedy the problem going forward," the lawsuit states, as quoted by the News Service.

How the case got here

Thursday's filing follows an investigation Uthmeier announced in March. At that time his office issued a subpoena seeking information on Discord's marketing, age verification, content moderation and parental control features, the News Service of Florida reported.

The attorney general tied the lawsuit to his office's child exploitation arrests. "We've arrested more than 2,100 child predators in this state since I took office," Uthmeier said in the release. "Again and again, their trail to our kids leads back to Discord. Discord told parents that safety is at the core of everything they do. That was false. It's time for this app to get serious about protecting our children or face serious consequences."

Hillsborough County School Board member Patti Rendon and Joe Pepe of the Florida Department of Health also spoke in support of the case, according to the release. Rendon said the office is ensuring online platforms know they are responsible for keeping children safe, and credited Uthmeier and Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister as partners in that effort.

Part of a wider push against tech companies

The Discord suit is the latest in a string of actions Uthmeier has taken against technology companies this fall. His office's news releases show he filed a lawsuit against router maker TP-Link Systems on Oct. 6, sought a temporary injunction against Meta Platforms on Oct. 7, and sought a temporary injunction against OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, on Sept. 28. He has also sued Roblox, the gaming platform named in one of the Florida cases cited in the Discord complaint, alleging it misled parents and exposed children to predators.

Florida is not the first state to take Discord to court over child safety. New Jersey's attorney general filed a consumer protection suit against the company in 2025 over similar claims.

What it means for Florida families

For parents, the practical question is whether the lawsuit forces Discord to change how children sign up and who can contact them. The state is asking the court to require real age verification and parental consent before the platform collects children's data, which would change how millions of young users access the service if granted. None of those changes take effect unless a judge orders them or Discord agrees to them in a settlement.

What's next

Discord will have the opportunity to respond to the complaint in the 20th Judicial Circuit. The claims in the lawsuit are allegations that have not been tested in court. The company had not publicly responded to the filing as of Thursday, according to the News Service of Florida.