Discord expands Family Center as platform steps up transparency for teen accounts

Discord has introduced an expanded Family Center that increases visibility into teen activity and adds new guardian-enabled controls while retaining strict privacy boundaries.

Discord has shared updated details about its expanded Family Center, outlining new oversight tools designed to give families clearer insight into teen activity on the platform.

Savannah Badalich, Global Head of Product Policy at Discord took to social media to share details.

Discord operates a communications platform widely used for gaming and community interaction across voice, video, and text. The company says the latest Family Center update reflects ongoing work to balance transparency and teen autonomy.

The tool now shows aggregated data on top contacts, active servers, time spent on voice calls, and total purchases. Parents and guardians can also adjust direct messaging permissions, enable sensitive content filtering, and manage selected data privacy settings. Teens can choose to alert guardians if they submit a report for additional support.

Privacy boundary remains unchanged

Badalich stresses that Discord will not provide message content to parents, describing this as a fixed limit. “We have a red line: We're not going to be showing message content from teens to their parents,” she wrote in the LinkedIn post. Discord positions this boundary as central to avoiding surveillance-style oversight and instead prompting families to discuss digital behavior offline.

The company says the expanded controls aim to help families stay informed without requiring them to become experts on the platform’s features, echoing long-standing debates around age-appropriate oversight and the balance between monitoring and trust.

The update follows work with partners including the National PTA, the Digital Wellness Lab, and ConnectSafely.

Larry Magid, CEO at ConnectSafely.org, says: “Family Center provides parents with what they need to help guide their teen's use of Discord without being too invasive. It's like the physical world where you know who your kids are hanging out with and where they're going but not listening in on their conversations or micromanaging their relationships. Tools like Family Center can help parents help their teens develop the habits and critical thinking skills that apply not only to Discord but all of life.”

Yvonne Johnson, National PTA President, adds: “It is essential that families are empowered with knowledge, tools and resources so they can support healthy digital habits for their children. When platforms offer resources like Discord’s new Family Center, this information helps facilitate meaningful conversations between teens and their parents and caregivers about how to be safe, responsible and respectful online. National PTA will continue to work with our partners including Discord to create a healthier digital environment for teens and families.”

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