As concerns around AI training and data privacy continue to grow, tech companies are rushing to prove that users’ conversations are actually private. One of the biggest tools for that has been end-to-end encryption, which means no one except the people in the conversation can access the data. Now, Discord is finally bringing that protection to voice and video calls.
The platform has rolled out end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for all voice and video calls, with no opt-in required since it is enabled by default. There is one caveat, though: Stages, Discord’s more public broadcast-style channels, are excluded from the feature.
Reports suggest Discord had quietly implemented E2EE for voice calls as far back as March this year, but the company is only now officially announcing it.
In a blog post announcing the feature, Mark Smith, Discord's vice president of core technologies, said, “End-to-end encryption is now standard for every voice and video call on Discord, outside of stage channels. No opt-in required.”
The part that may disappoint some users is that Discord still has no plans to add E2EE to text messages. So, while your calls are now encrypted, your DMs and text chats still do not have the same level of privacy protection.
The move comes just days after Google and Apple announced expanded end-to-end encryption support for RCS messaging. Even more interestingly, some companies are moving in the opposite direction. Meta removed end-to-end encryption from Instagram DMs earlier this year, while TikTok has also said it will not offer the feature for direct messages.
So yes, your private Discord calls are now far more private than before, and that is meaningful progress. But if privacy matters to you beyond voice and video, the lack of encryption for text messages is still something worth paying attention to.
Ogbonda Chivumnovu
