What Discord's terms say about your data

Who owns the data the customer puts in?

The customer · covers everything a user posts: messages, files, media, server content

1. Headline Every plan covers everything a user posts: messages, files, media, server content

   The customer

   Your content is yours, but you give us a license (which is a form of permission) to it when you use Discord.

   Terms of Service (terms), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Terms, Content in Discord's services, Your content. Next: "Your content may be protected by certain intellectual property rights. We don't own those." Ownership sits with each user who posted, not with the server or its owner.

2. Detail Every plan covers the license Discord takes in all user content

   The customer

   This license is worldwide, non-exclusive (which means you can still license your content to others), royalty-free (which means there are no fees for this license), sublicensable, and transferable.

   Terms of Service (terms), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Terms, Your content. Preceding sentences grant Discord a license "to use, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works of, display, and perform your content" for "the limited purpose of providing, developing, and improving our services". Non-exclusive: a user may license their own content to someone else.

3. Detail Every plan covers messages other members post in a server (owned by each author, not by the server owner)

   The customer^*

   You may not use this content without that person's consent, or as allowed by law.

   Terms of Service (terms), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Terms, Other content: "Other people's content is theirs". We read "customer" here as each posting user; a server owner does not own members' messages and needs each author's consent to use them.

Does the vendor train AI on it?

Generative: the terms don't say. Other models: yes^* · covers all user content, generative models; content reported to Discord, content that breaks its rules, and widely available content such as public posts, usernames, avatars and server names

1. Headline Every plan covers all user content, generative models

   Generative: the terms don't say^*

   The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of providing, developing, and improving our services as permitted by applicable laws.

   Terms of Service (terms), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   No Discord document (Terms, Paid Services Terms, Developer Terms and Policy, Privacy Policy, retention policy) says whether Discord trains generative AI on user content. The license purpose, "developing, and improving our services", does not rule it out, and the Privacy Policy says content in larger spaces helps power "features that help you catch up on conversations" (AI summaries). Scored not_stated; no opt-out or opt-in for this is described.

2. Headline Every plan covers content reported to Discord, content that breaks its rules, and widely available content such as public posts, usernames, avatars and server names

   Other models: yes

   to create systems and models that can be automated to more swiftly detect, categorize, and take action against prohibited content or conduct.

   Privacy Policy (privacy policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Privacy Policy, How we use your information, To meet our commitments to the Discord community. The lead-in names what is used: content reported to Discord, content that violates its Terms, and "certain other content widely available on the service" such as public posts, usernames, avatars, profiles and server names and icons. No setting to turn this off is described.

3. Supporting Every plan covers public posts

   Other models: yes

   Public posts may also be retained for 180 days to two years for use by Discord as described in our Privacy Policy (for example, to help us train models that proactively detect content that violates our policies).

   How long Discord keeps your information (the data retention policy the Privacy Policy links to) (privacy policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Retention policy, Information you can delete directly from the services: so public posts can stay in training use after the user deletes them.

4. Detail Every plan covers content posted in larger spaces (big or public servers)

   Other models: opt-out^*

   We may also use content posted in larger spaces to help us develop, improve, and power our services, including features that help you catch up on conversations and safety features that identify harmful content on the services

   Privacy Policy (privacy policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Privacy Policy, A little bit about Discord. Next sentence: "You can limit the extent to which your content is used for these purposes", pointing to the policy's privacy controls section. That section's control is the "Use data to improve Discord" toggle, whose help article describes usage data, not content; opt_out is our reading of the policy's promise. Model training is not named.

5. Detail Every plan covers message content that third-party bots and apps read through Discord's APIs (developers, not Discord)

   No

   Do not use message content obtained through the APIs to train machine learning or AI models (including large language models) unless express permission is granted by Discord.

   Discord Developer Policy (bots and apps using the APIs) (terms), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Developer Policy, item 21. Binds app developers, including a server owner's own bot; it is not a statement about Discord's own training.

Does the vendor keep a right to use it aggregated, de-identified or as usage data?

Reserved · covers information Discord collects about users, including content and usage

1. Headline Every plan covers information Discord collects about users, including content and usage

   Reserved

   We may disclose information that has been aggregated or anonymized such that it cannot reasonably be used to identify you.

   Privacy Policy (privacy policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Privacy Policy, How we disclose your information. Next: "we may share aggregated user statistics in order to describe our business, features, or promotions to partners or the public."

2. Supporting Every plan covers information left after an account is deleted

   Reserved

   We retain aggregated and anonymized information, which is information that no longer enables us to identify you and is no longer tied to you as an individual.

   How long Discord keeps your information (the data retention policy the Privacy Policy links to) (privacy policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Retention policy, What happens when you delete your account.

What can the customer export, and who can run it?

Part of it by any member through a self-serve screen^* · covers one user's own account data: own messages, account, activity; for servers the user owns, settings, channels, emoji, webhooks and audit log (no other members' messages)

1. Headline Every plan covers one user's own account data: own messages, account, activity; for servers the user owns, settings, channels, emoji, webhooks and audit log (no other members' messages)

   Part of it by any member through a self-serve screen^*

   A Data Package is a zip folder of files that you can request through your User Settings that contains all of your Discord data for your account.

   Your Discord Data Package (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Partial is our reading: the package is per user, and the folder for an owned server lists emoji, audit log, channels with permissions, settings and webhooks, with no message history. No page offers a server-wide or workspace export to the owner. Same on Free and Nitro. Up to 30 days to arrive; the link stays active 30 days.

2. Supporting Every plan covers one user's own data

   Part of it by any member through a self-serve screen

   Data is delivered in common digital formats, including JSON and any other file format you used when uploading attachments to the services.

   Privacy Policy (privacy policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Privacy Policy, Access your information: request it in User Settings, Data & Privacy; "You should receive your data packet within 30 days."

3. Detail Every plan covers messages in the package

   Part of it by any member through a self-serve screen

   The messages folder contains all the messages that you have sent on Discord.

   Your Discord Data Package (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Only messages the requesting user sent, split by DM, group DM and channel; attachments come as CDN links. "If you manually delete a message - it is no longer stored in Discord and therefore will not be included in your data package."

4. Detail Every plan covers servers the requesting user owns

   Part of it by the owner through a self-serve screen^*

   A JSON file containing a list of your channels along with their permissions.

   Your Discord Data Package (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Data package article, Servers: for a server you own the package holds uploaded emoji, audit log actions, channels with permissions, emoji ids, server settings and webhooks. Messages by other members are not listed, so a server owner cannot export the server's conversations.

5. Detail Every plan covers content or data obtained from Discord (for example other members' messages), for sale or licensing

   Nothing^*

   selling, licensing, or otherwise commercializing content or data obtained from our services

   Terms of Service (terms), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Terms, Restrictions on your use of Discord's services, under "Don't use the services to do harm to Discord". We read it as no permitted route to sell or license others' content taken from Discord; each user may still license their own content (the license to Discord is non-exclusive).

6. Detail Every plan covers data read by bots and apps through Discord's APIs

   Nothing^*

   Do not sell, license, or otherwise commercialize API Data or any of Discord's services

   Discord Developer Policy (bots and apps using the APIs) (terms), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Developer Policy, item 18; item 20 adds "Do not mine or scrape any data" and item 21 bars training AI models on API message content without Discord's permission. A bot can read a server's history, but the data it gets cannot be sold or licensed.

How much history does the plan keep?

All of it · covers messages, files and account data

1. Headline Every plan covers messages, files and account data

   All of it

   In general, this means that we retain your personal information for as long as you have an active Discord account.

   How long Discord keeps your information (the data retention policy the Privacy Policy links to) (privacy policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Retention policy. No time limit on message history on Free or Nitro; users may delete their own messages, and "Deleted content will also be deleted from Discord's systems" unless a legal hold applies.

2. Supporting Every plan covers messages

   All of it

   We similarly collect and store the messages you send and display them as you direct.

   Privacy Policy (privacy policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Privacy Policy, To fulfill our contract with you. Data retention section: kept "until we determine it is no longer needed".

3. Detail Every plan covers voice and video calls and streams

   None

   We generally do not store the contents of video or voice calls or channels.

   Privacy Policy (privacy policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Privacy Policy, Content you create. Screen-share streams are not stored either, only a thumbnail for a short time. So there are no call recordings to export.

4. Detail Every plan covers the whole account, when inactive

   730 days (2 years), older data deleted

   If your account is inactive for two years, we may delete it for you.

   How long Discord keeps your information (the data retention policy the Privacy Policy links to) (privacy policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Retention policy. The Terms list inactivity over two years among reasons Discord may terminate an account.

5. Detail Every plan covers database backups

   45 days, older data deleted

   Our database backups are stored for 30-45 days upon which they are deleted.

   How long Discord keeps your information (the data retention policy the Privacy Policy links to) (privacy policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Retention policy, Retention periods for specific purposes.

How long is data kept after the account ends, and can it still be exported?

None, export before the account ends · covers content the user shared with others, after account deletion

1. Headline Every plan covers content the user shared with others, after account deletion

   None, export before the account ends

   If you delete your account, we continue to retain and display the content you shared with other users, but that content is no longer tied to your account.

   How long Discord keeps your information (the data retention policy the Privacy Policy links to) (privacy policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Retention policy, Continuity of our service. Messages stay visible, anonymized, with no end date; to remove them a user must delete them before deleting the account. No export after deletion: a pending data request "will be canceled if you disable or delete your account before receiving the download link" (supporting fact). Canceling Nitro ends perks only (Paid Services Terms) and does not touch data.

2. Supporting Every plan covers the user's data package

   None, export before the account ends

   Your request will be canceled if you disable or delete your account before receiving the download link.

   Requesting a Copy of your Data (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Requesting a Copy of your Data.

3. Detail Every plan covers identifying account information

   Kept 30 days, no export

   When you delete your account, we will typically first put your account on hold for 15 to 30 days so that it can be recovered in case it was deleted unintentionally.

   How long Discord keeps your information (the data retention policy the Privacy Policy links to) (privacy policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Retention policy. Then identifying information is deleted and other information anonymized or aggregated; up to 45 days to clear backups; emails and phone numbers kept 180 days for trust and safety, support records five years. The delete-account article says 15 days.

4. Detail Every plan covers servers the deleting user owns

   None, export before the account ends

   Any Discord server you owned under your deleted Discord account will continue to exist but with a different server owner you elect.

   How to Delete your Discord Account (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Delete-account article: an owner must transfer or delete every server they own before Discord lets them delete the account.

5. Detail Every plan covers a deleted server (messages and member list)

   Deleted at once

   Once a server has been deleted, nothing from the server can be recovered or restored.

   How do I delete a server? (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   How do I delete a server? FAQ. Only the server owner can delete a server, and it "can not be restored".

What the read couldn't settle

• Discord has no business or team plan. Plans are Free and Nitro; Nitro is a per-user subscription (Nitro Basic and Nitro grouped as "Nitro") that changes perks such as upload size, not data terms. No Discord document gives a different answer by plan, so every fact holds on both.
• Discord is a consumer service with no customer agreement, DPA or AI policy for organizations: the Terms of Service, Paid Services Terms, Developer Terms and Developer Policy are the contract documents, all read. A company that runs its community on Discord is just a user whose account owns servers.
• There is no server-wide export for a server owner. The only self-serve export is each user's own data package (their own messages; for servers they own, settings, channels, emoji, webhooks and audit log, but no other members' messages). This is our reading of the data package article; no page says "no server export" in words.
• Other members' messages are theirs (Terms: "Other people's content is theirs"), the Terms bar "selling, licensing, or otherwise commercializing content or data obtained from our services", and the Developer Policy bars using API message content to train AI models without Discord's permission. So a server owner has neither a technical nor a contractual route to sell a server's message history.
• Generative AI training: no document says whether Discord trains generative models on messages. The license covers "providing, developing, and improving our services", which does not rule it out; scored not_stated. Safety models trained on reported content and public posts are stated.
• support.discord.com and support-dev.discord.com return HTTP 403 to curl (bot check); the help articles and Developer Terms and Policy were read and every quote verified through the same help center's public article API (support.discord.com/api/v2/help_center/en-us/articles/<id>.json, body HTML). check-tool-quotes.mjs will report these as "can't check" unless it gets that path.
• Whether the "Use data to improve Discord" toggle also stops use of message content from larger servers is not stated: the Privacy Policy says users can limit content use through the privacy controls, but the toggle's help article describes usage data only.
• Help articles show no fixed version date in their text, so version is null; the Terms, Paid Services Terms and Privacy Policy show effective September 29, 2025 (last updated August 29, 2025), the Developer Terms and Policy effective July 8, 2024.

Documents

12 of 12 read. Each fact above names the one it comes from.

1. Terms of Service Terms · version 2025-09-29 · read 2026-10-23
2. Paid Services Terms (Nitro and other purchases) Terms · version 2025-09-29 · read 2026-10-23
3. Discord Developer Policy (bots and apps using the APIs) Terms · version 2024-07-08 · read 2026-10-23
4. Discord Developer Terms of Service Terms · version 2024-07-08 · read 2026-10-23
5. Privacy Policy Privacy policy · version 2025-09-29 · read 2026-10-23
6. How long Discord keeps your information (the data retention policy the Privacy Policy links to) Privacy policy · read 2026-10-23
7. Requesting a Copy of your Data Help article · read 2026-10-23
8. Your Discord Data Package Help article · read 2026-10-23
9. How to Delete your Discord Account Help article · read 2026-10-23
10. How do I delete a server? Help article · read 2026-10-23
11. Data Used to Improve Discord Help article · read 2026-10-23
12. Nitro (plans page) Plans page · read 2026-10-23