Your Discord Messages Will Soon Appear in Google Search, but You Can Opt Out of This Feature.
If you’re a member of a large public Discord server, your messages may soon become visible in Google search—even for those without a Discord account. Starting in November, searchable Discord servers will have web pages that will appear in web search results, including short descriptions and messages from public channels. While messages won’t be linked to your username or avatar, you can still opt out of this feature.
Some Discord servers have web pages that can be searched.
This change affects public Discord servers with at least 1,000 members. There is no invite link, so anyone can find and join them as long as they have a Discord account. (Other Discord servers are either closed communities for large groups or friend servers, which are smaller, private spaces.)
On November 16, Discord will launch publicly accessible server pages. They will display summaries of discussions from public channels, as well as some private messages. By mid-December, these pages may appear in search results. While accessing these servers has always been relatively easy, since they are public, this eliminates the need to register for Discord and join servers to view them.
In its announcement detailing the changes , Discord notes that private servers and direct messages will remain private. Additionally, server administrators can choose which channels appear in web searches or opt out of them entirely.
How to disable web search in Discord
As noted, server administrators can disable the display of public channels on server web pages via “Server Settings” > “Web Presence.” Server members can also hide their messages via “User Settings” > “Data & Privacy.” A single toggle is available for all available channels, so different settings cannot be selected for different servers. You cannot opt out of including your messages in channel summaries.
Messages sent before mid-December will not appear in search results, regardless of your settings. However, if you leave this feature enabled and decide to disable it later, all messages sent between mid-December and disabling this setting will remain in search results unless you completely delete the message from Discord.