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Discord Applying Forced Arbitration - opt-out before it is too late!

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Re: Discord Applying Forced Arbitration - opt-out before it is too late!

#11

Post by jkaplowitz »

jhgg wrote: post #10

FYI, the forced arbitration clause has existed in the ToS since 2018. This is not new. Blog post from 2018: https://discord.com/safety/terms-of-service-feedback-and-cha... Archived version of ToS from may 2020: https://discord.com/terms/terms-of-service-may-2020

It is new again, actually - if you opted out previously, you have to opt out again to stay opted out, according to the wording of the new terms. One opt out per Discord account, if you have multiple, in each case within 30 days of registering that account or of April 15, 2024, whichever is later. This provision does not make reference to the first time you accepted a version of these terms with an arbitration clause, or a similar phrase that would obviate the need for a new opt-out.

On the plus side, if you didn’t opt out before, you get a new opportunity to opt out, which according to the new terms will remove all disputes that have not yet been filed from the scope of previous arbitration agreements with Discord.

Since the clause only applies if you are a US resident, it’s very unclear how that opt-out deadline applies to existing Discord accounts for people who relocate into the US after the deadline. The conservative approach is to opt out wherever in the world you live, in case you later move to the US.

Re: Discord Applying Forced Arbitration - opt-out before it is too late!

#13

Post by TheRoque »

agluszak wrote: post #8

Let the enshitification begin!

I'm very curious about the form that the discord enshittification will take. For sure, they can't do infinite storage, infinite streaming forever, yet they claim that they don't resell the data. And I doubt that nitro and other gimmicky fees give them any money. So I'm really curious about how it will look when they want to start cashing in on that massive community and personal data they sit on.

Re: Discord Applying Forced Arbitration - opt-out before it is too late!

#14

Post by lnxg33k1 »

genman wrote: post #6

Interesting. Does this forced arbitration also apply to EU?

I am not sure, I think it can't apply to Italy, as we have a tiered set of laws and one lower tier can't override higher tiers, and contracts/tos are the lowest tier

Re: Discord Applying Forced Arbitration - opt-out before it is too late!

#15

Post by jkaplowitz »

paulgb wrote: post #9
genman wrote: post #6

Interesting. Does this forced arbitration also apply to EU?

This one in particular does not. I'm not sure about the enforceability of other forced arbitration agreements in the EU. > To protect our users outside the United States, we’ve decided to modify this clause so that it only affects users in the United States. If you are outside of the United States, this clause does not apply to you https://discord.com/safety/terms-of-service-feedback-and-cha...

You’re correct that it does not, but it’s also ambiguous about what happens with respect to dispute rights for existing accounts if you later move to the US after the opt-out deadline, so the conservative approach is to opt out regardless of your country of residence.

Re: Discord Applying Forced Arbitration - opt-out before it is too late!

#16

Post by jkaplowitz »

teeray wrote: post #12

It really would be nice for some legislation to restore access to the justice system.

Such legislation has gotten proposed in every session of Congress in recent years. It hasn’t passed yet. I hope it does, eventually.

Re: Discord Applying Forced Arbitration - opt-out before it is too late!

#17

Post by meepmorp »

paulgb wrote: post #9
genman wrote: post #6

Interesting. Does this forced arbitration also apply to EU?

This one in particular does not. I'm not sure about the enforceability of other forced arbitration agreements in the EU. > To protect our users outside the United States, we’ve decided to modify this clause so that it only affects users in the United States. If you are outside of the United States, this clause does not apply to you https://discord.com/safety/terms-of-service-feedback-and-cha...

> To protect our users outside the United States, we’ve decided to modify this clause so that it only affects users in the United States.

"We're going to protect our users outside the United States from a thing we've freely chosen to do to our users in the United States."

Re: Discord Applying Forced Arbitration - opt-out before it is too late!

#18

Post by FireBeyond »

TheRoque wrote: post #13
agluszak wrote: post #8

Let the enshitification begin!

I'm very curious about the form that the discord enshittification will take. For sure, they can't do infinite storage, infinite streaming forever, yet they claim that they don't resell the data. And I doubt that nitro and other gimmicky fees give them any money. So I'm really curious about how it will look when they want to start cashing in on that massive community and personal data they sit on.

Think Reddit had it bad with r/jailbait, etc.? And how they (somewhat) cleaned house before the IPO? (A few years ago, anyway).

Discord is going to have a horror show if they try to attempt anything similar. It is -trivial- on Disboard or other Discord search sites to find Discord servers with explicit sexual themes aimed at and targetted at minors, and even worse than that, ones with explicit sexual themes that have age ranges that include minors and adults (like "Community of 14-28 year olds...").

When more people start pulling at that thread, it's going to unravel really quickly.

Discord has been doing -some- housecleaning, but only on the most egregious "sexual 'violence'" offenders.

Re: Discord Applying Forced Arbitration - opt-out before it is too late!

#20

Post by malka »

jkaplowitz wrote: post #11
jhgg wrote: post #10

FYI, the forced arbitration clause has existed in the ToS since 2018. This is not new. Blog post from 2018: https://discord.com/safety/terms-of-service-feedback-and-cha... Archived version of ToS from may 2020: https://discord.com/terms/terms-of-service-may-2020

It is new again, actually - if you opted out previously, you have to opt out again to stay opted out, according to the wording of the new terms. One opt out per Discord account, if you have multiple, in each case within 30 days of registering that account or of April 15, 2024, whichever is later . This provision does not make reference to the first time you accepted a version of these terms with an arbitration clause…

Thanks for the info. Just in case, I setup a script to send a daily mail to arbitration-opt-out@discord.com
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