Discord Cracks Down on Accounts Selling User Messages

Discord has taken swift action against a number of accounts found to be using bots to harvest and sell messages from up to 620 million users. An investigation uncovered that these bots had compiled a massive archive of over four billion public messages, including voice chats, from popular servers such as those dedicated to video games like Among Us and Minecraft. The messages were then sold through the Spy.Pet website for a fee of $5, targeting businesses seeking to leverage the data for AI model training or for use by law enforcement agencies. According to Discord, the bots only accessed public servers or those where a valid invite link was readily available, and the company is confident that no private messages were compromised. The personal data accessed by the bots was limited to information already publicly displayed on user profiles. Following the investigation, Discord has banned the accounts associated with Spy.Pet, which is now offline. A Discord spokesperson confirmed that the company's Safety team has been actively investigating the matter and has identified and banned accounts linked to the Spy.Pet website. Discord is also exploring the possibility of pursuing legal action against those responsible, with reports indicating that the owner of Spy.Pet is affiliated with Kiwi Farms, a forum known for facilitating online harassment.