Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Discord, Inc. in May 2026, accusing the platform of exposing Texas children to predators while deceiving parents about how safe the platform is. This article explains what the landmark lawsuit against Discord alleges, the emergency court order Texas secured against Discord, and how it fits into a nationwide wave of legal action.
The Texas Attorney General Discord lawsuit is specifically for parents and families whose children may have been groomed, sexually exploited, or otherwise harmed through Discord. Parents need to understand the Texas AG lawsuit against Discord because understanding these accusations is the first step toward knowing your legal rights, protecting evidence before it disappears, and pursuing responsibility and compensation.
We’re actively pursuing lawsuits against Discord and other tech giants on behalf of parents whose children were harmed through Discord.
Call 713-622-7271 for a free consultation.
Texas Attorney General Files a Landmark Lawsuit Against Discord: Key Allegations
The Texas AG lawsuit against Discord was filed in Collin County district court. This landmark lawsuit is one of several actions Attorney General Ken Paxton has taken against tech companies for poor safety features, privacy data, and alleged child exploitation.
The lawsuit against Discord is built on two legal principles: The Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) and the Texas SCOPE Act.
Nearly half of criminal cases against Discord involve child exploitation.
Rather than arguing bad actors misused the platform, Attorney General Ken Paxton contends that Discord made repeated promises about safety features while operating the platform in ways that exposed Texas children to harm, namely child exploitation.
DTPA: Discord Deceived Parents With “Safe By Design” Marketing
The main complaint in the landmark lawsuit against Discord is that the company deceived parents by marketing itself as “safe by design.” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton points to the lacking safety features that make child exploitation easier, including pseudonymous accounts, private servers, voice and video chat, invitation-based communities, reliance on unpaid volunteer moderators, and safety protections that users must opt into rather than receiving by default.
The Texas Attorney General Discord lawsuit alleges that the company knew about these risks, continued to advertise itself as trustworthy, and exposed Texas children by defaulting them to the weakest safety settings anyway.
Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking courts to require Discord to pay back revenue derived from its unlawful conduct, along with civil penalties of up to $10,000 per DTPA violation.
Texas SCOPE Act Against Discord
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also filed the complaint under the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act. The SCOPE Act requires digital service providers to implement safety features to protect minors from:
- harmful content,
- excessive data collection, and
- ads for products that are unlawful for minors.
Under the SCOPE Act, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asks the court to require age verification for all users. While some parts of the SCOPE Act have been blocked for vagueness, Paxton used the remaining provisions to bring a lawsuit against Discord and to pursue several actions across the tech industry.
He’s asking the courts to require that maximum safety settings be enabled by default for new accounts.
The SCOPE Act is important because it gives Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and in limited circumstances, parents and guardians, a way to hold platforms responsible for exposing Texas children to predators, regardless of whether or not a criminal act occurred.
Attorney General Ken Paxton Sues Discord For Exposing Texas Children to Predators, Grooming, Exploitation, and the “764” Network
The Attorney General’s landmark lawsuit against Discord cites the user cost. The complaint describes several cases where the platform exposed Texas children to predators. A few examples include:
- a 13-year-old girl who was groomed on the website and later sexually assaulted in her own home,
- a 15-year-old boy who was coerced through the website’s messaging system into producing explicit material and later died by suicide, and
- a 13-year-old who died by suicide after being targeted by the “764” network, which the Attorney General Ken Paxton alleges is operated openly across the platform’s servers.
Galveston County parents reported that their daughter was sexually assaulted by a user she first interacted with on the website. This represents just one of the several actions taken by parents accusing the website of exposing Texas children to predators.
Texas AG Files Emergency Restraining Order Against Discord
The same day the lawsuit against Discord was filed, Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office secured an emergency Temporary Restraining Order. This required the website to stop defaulting all Texas children’s accounts to the weakest safety settings. Discord must halt all marketing claims promoting safety unless they meet requirements
On Discord, user violations expire after 90 days. The court also ordered Discord to suspend the automatic 90-day expiration of user violation records, preserve all safety data, and file a report disclosing its true default settings, the share of its workforce devoted to safety, and data on how easily blocked/banned users return to the website.
In the lawsuit against Discord, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton described the platform as having “designed a predator’s paradise, switched off the safeguards by default, and looked Texas parents in the eye and called it safe.“
A Wave of Legal Action Against Discord
The Texas Attorney General suing Discord is part of several actions taken across the world. In the U.S., Nevada, Indiana, and New Jersey have also filed lawsuits against Discord for deceiving parents and failing to protect minor users, and Florida announced an investigation.
Alongside the state enforcement actions, several private Discord child sexual abuse lawsuits have been filed by parents, accusing the website of deceiving parents and exposing children to predators.
How Reich & Binstock Is Involved in This Litigation
Reich & Binstock isn’t watching the Texas Attorney General lawsuit against Discord from the sidelines; Anya Fuchs holds a leadership role in the video game addiction litigation and filed the initial LA County Roblox child exploitation lawsuit. This is directly relevant because Attorney General Ken Paxton’s own complaint in the lawsuit against Discord cites a 13-year-old girl who was groomed on Discord after being targeted on Roblox.
The claims cited in the Roblox-to-Discord pipeline lawsuit aren’t coincidences. They show a pattern of predators contacting minor users on one platform then migrating victims to a second platform that actively deceives parents into thinking the website was built to protect children.
There are 130 lawsuits against Discord filed by parents nationwide accusing the platform of deceiving parents and allowing predators to contact minor users on gaming apps, then moving them to private servers, resulting in widespread child exploitation.
We understand how platforms fail to preserve user data and how to pursue discovery before evidence disappears. The Texas Attorney General’s lawsuit against Discord, as well as the landmark lawsuit in LA County, rest on nearly identical legal theories: both allege platforms deceived parents by marketing themselves as safe while allowing child exploitation to continue.
We have decades of experience fighting companies that expose children to sexual predators. We’re filing lawsuits against Discord and almost identical lawsuits against Steam nationwide. Our law firm is also filing Fortnite lawsuits, Minecraft lawsuits, Roblox sexual exploitation lawsuits, and cases against other major platforms, like Call of Duty, GTA, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and Among Us. We also pursue emerging claims such as the Character AI lawsuit, reflecting how quickly this area of law is developing.
Who May Qualify to File a Lawsuit Against Discord
Parents may file lawsuits against Discord if their child experienced:
- Grooming, sexual exploitation, or sexual abuse facilitated through the platform
- Exposure to a child predator who made contact through the platform
- Production or distribution of explicit material involving a minor
- Self-harm or suicide linked to the platform
- Severe mental health decline tied to compulsive use
Adults who were exploited as children may also be eligible. In most states, the deadline pauses for minors. We provide free consultations to evaluate claims.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is suing Discord in Texas?
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the state’s lawsuit against Discord in Collin County district court, alleging the company deceived parents about safety and exposed children to predators.
What law is Texas Attorney General lawsuit against Discord based on?
The state’s case is built primarily on the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which targets misleading claims made to consumers.
Can I file a private lawsuit against Discord?
Yes, the state’s action for deceiving parents and exposing Texas children to predators is separate from individual claims. Our law firm is helping parents of children affected file their own lawsuits.
How much does it cost to file a lawsuit against Discord in Texas?
Reich & Binstock works on a contingency basis. There is no fee unless we recover on your behalf, and clients are not obligated to pay expenses if they don’t get a settlement or award.
Contact Our Texas Attorneys For a Free Consultation
Discord exposed Texas children to predators. If your child was one of them, you don’t have to pursue a lawsuit against Discord alone. We have the experience, resources, and leadership role in this litigation to hold the company responsible.
Call 713-622-7271 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation.
Sources: Texas Office of the Attorney General — landmark lawsuit announcement; Texas Office of the Attorney General — emergency restraining order.
