Turkey, Russia ban Discord over child abuse allegations

As a seasoned researcher with years of experience observing and analyzing the ever-evolving digital landscape, I find myself both intrigued and concerned by the recent developments involving Discord in Turkey and Russia.


Both Turkey and Russia have decided to prohibit the widely-used messaging service Discord due to worries about child exploitation and other illegal actions.

In Turkey, officials have restricted access to Discord following a judicial decision that associates the platform with instances of child sexual exploitation and explicit content, according to reports from Reuters today.

public indignation escalated after news broke about violent content spreading on Discord, which also encompassed discussions surrounding a recent double murder.

In a recent post on platform X, Turkey’s Minister of Justice, Yılmaz Tunç, highlighted the nation’s dedication to shielding children and the general public from potentially damaging online content, as well as tackling issues related to the misuse of social media for illegal activities.

In simple terms, social media platforms and websites operating within Turkey are required to abide by its laws and regulations, just like everyone else. There are no special exceptions or privileges granted.

Yılmaz Tunç wrote.

Investigations initiated by the Prosecutor’s Office regarding content promoting illegal activities on certain social media platforms and websites have been launched.

These platforms, which fail to remove such content and do not implement court rulings concerning this matter, are being scrutinized…

— Yılmaz TUNÇ (@yilmaztunc) October 8, 2024

The Turkish ban came hours after Russia also banned Discord as part of its broader crackdown on non-compliant tech companies. The Russian government previously fined Discord for failing to remove prohibited content and has now escalated its actions, banning the platform entirely. 

These actions take place under growing examination of international technology firms within Russia, as Discord now shares a ban with prominent platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

Recently, there have been connections between Discord and cryptocurrency-related crimes. It appears that illicit crypto schemes are sometimes orchestrated through private channels on this platform. In 2021, Kaspersky issued a warning about a scam specifically targeting Discord users, leading them to fake crypto exchanges.

Fraudsters have exploited the platform Discord to peddle get-rich-quick cryptocurrency scams, known as pump-and-dump schemes. Previously, the U.S. Department of Justice took action against seven individuals who operated a $100 million pump-and-dump crypto scheme on Discord.

Some malicious groups exploited a fraudulent Discord server linked to the crypto project Access Protocol to swindle investors out of approximately $880,000. Additionally, other digital currency initiatives like OpenSea, Renzo, and Polygon have experienced security breaches on their Discord platforms. Hackers aimed to misuse these servers for illicit purposes.

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2024-10-09 12:51