Discord announced that every one of its most public communities will have a web page starting Nov. 16, and those pages may show AI-written summaries of their public conversations. From mid-December, some members’ messages may also show up on those pages and in Google and other search engines.
The announcement covers what Discord calls Discoverable Servers, which it says number more than 63,000. They’re public communities that anyone can join without an invite. To qualify, a server needs at least 1,000 members, has to be at least eight weeks old and must meet Discord’s activity and safety requirements. Summaries and messages are both on by default, and admins choose which public channels take part.
Admins have until Nov. 16 to change these new channel settings before summaries can begin showing up.
Members are allowed to opt out of having their posts display on public pages (in some regions, this is the default).
What Happens Starting Nov. 16 & What Follows In December
On Nov. 16, all Discoverable Servers will have a Server Web Page. Discoverable Servers have already had the ability to create an optional server web page; others which don’t currently do so will be assigned a default page based upon their current server profile. Discord’s help page says anyone can view one, and search engines like Google can show it.
Those pages may also carry Channel Summaries, which Discord’s admin help page says it creates using AI from recent discussions in public channels. The same page says the summaries “may not always be accurate.” They cover conversations from Nov. 16 onward and don’t show usernames.
From mid-December, Discord says some messages from public channels may appear on server pages and in web search, in members’ own words and without usernames or avatars. The rollout is gradual, and it may be a few weeks before the first messages appear. Messages sent before mid-December aren’t included.
Messages in threads and forum posts are included when the parent channel is public and participating. Private threads and private forums are never included, regardless of the parent channel’s settings. For now, messages appear as text only.
Who Controls What
Server settings include switches and lists for administrators to manage Channel Messages and Channel Summaries under Community > Web Presence. Each of these items has their own unique switch and channel listing. However, private channels (including those restricted to certain roles) will always be omitted.
Admins may disable the community’s discoverability; this action will revert the community back to a normal Community Server. As long as a server is discoverable, its Server Web Page will remain available. In order to eliminate access to this page, an administrator will need to turn off the discoverability option.
According to Discord’s member help page, members will find one setting located at User Settings > Data & Privacy that controls all Discoverable Servers a user is a part of and allows users to set whether they want to allow their messages to appear on the web. This setting will be enabled by default for users in most regions. For users in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA), United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Australia and South Korea, this feature will be disabled by default. All teen account holders will be excluded from using this feature. Additionally, this feature only applies to messages. Any summaries will remain available and will continue to be displayed unless admins turn them off.
Additionally, turning off this feature will only affect new messages posted after such actions take place. Previous messages can still be viewable until they are deleted. Upon deletion of a message, the message will no longer be accessible within the application nor on the Server Web Page; however, Discord says it cannot guarantee that search engines will not retain cached or indexed versions of the deleted message.
How The Pages Are Set Up For Search
Discord’s robots.txt file shows the sitemaps for its server pages and its announcement pages where posts from pilots have appeared.
The pilot testing of Channel Messages has been running on several gaming servers (including NBA 2K, Rust & Dead by Daylight) with admins and moderators as writers of every single message posted.
Dead by Daylight’s server page, accessed October 29th, contains ProfilePage structured data. This is the same profile markup Google rolled out in November 2023, in addition to the discussion forum markup I reported about at the time. Admins are encouraged to “accurately and specifically” describe their servers, per the Server Web Pages help page, so searchers can find them.
As of Oct. 29, there are no rules in robots.txt referencing AI crawlers; however the general restrictions do not cover the paths to the server and announcement pages.
Discord’s FAQ answer on whether it sells messages to AI companies reads:
No. Nothing has changed. We are making Discord content easier to find if admins and users choose to make their content available on the web.
As of Oct. 29, all three help pages listed above, as well as the announcement referenced above, do not reference AI crawlers or model training.
Why This Matters
Any Discoverable Server you run will have a public page starting Nov. 16, whether or not you create one yourself. The channels you leave enabled in Web Presence determine which conversations Discord’s AI summarizes there, so it’s a good idea to review them before that date.
Discord’s own examples of answers that can show up in web search are game builds, strategies and boss guides. In August, I reported that Ahrefs’ data put public Facebook Groups second to Reddit among sites in Google’s Discussions and forums results. Some server pages can already show up in search, but the member answers Discord describes don’t start rolling out until mid-December.
Looking Ahead
Default server pages and summaries can go live on Nov. 16, with Channel Messages beginning to roll out in mid-December. Once member messages are available, you can check whether those pages include discussion forum markup, just as server pages include profile markup.
Featured Image: Samuel Boivin/Shutterstock
