Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Thursday he was expanding his Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act investigation into online chat platform Discord, according to a news release from Paxton's office.
The platform is described as an instant messaging and VoIP social platform allowing communication through voice calls, video calls, text messaging and other media. The communication can be private or in virtual communities called "servers."
Paxton's investigation stems from reports that the alledged assassin, Tyler Robinson, who allegedly murdered Charlie Kirk used Discord in addition to reports that the platform is "addictive and has exposed minors to sexual exploitation and extremist content."
“I’m standing shoulder to shoulder with the Trump Administration to root out and defeat nihilistic violent extremism in all its forms,” said Paxton. “Discord has chosen to allow extremist content, sexual exploitation, and addiction to flourish on its platform. It has a legal obligation to prevent minors from being exposed to these evils, but instead its actions have contributed to the growing wave of nihilistic violence all across our nation.”
Three weeks ago FBI director Kash Patel said in a Senate Judiciary Hearing that the FBI was interviewing everyone who participated in an online chat with Robinson on Discord.
The release states that Paxton previously launched an investigation into Discord regarding its privacy and safety practices for minors.
"As part of this new expansion in the investigation, Attorney General Paxton has issued an expanded Civil Investigative Demand (“CID”) to Discord focused on extremist content, sexual exploitation of minors by grooming gangs, the rise of shooters carrying out acts of nihilistic extremist violence, and the addictiveness of the platform for minors."
Additionally, the Attorney General’s investigation will examine the content on Discord’s platform and its role in contributing to the radicalization, sexual exploitation, and addiction of minors.
This week, Discord reported that 70,000 users' accounts may have had government-ID photos exposed by a third-party vendor Discord used to review age-related appeals.
Read more here about that compromise to Discord users.
