https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2014/02/27/14/40/police-275875_1280.jpg

Discord recently changed their terms of service on April 15th, 2024.  The change primarily is to force arbitration if there is any concerns of their service.  This is becoming more and more common with Roku recently doing the same.  In the case of Roku they disabled everyone's streaming device until they accepted their new arbitration clause.

An arbitration clause means you no longer have the right to file a lawsuit against them.  More importantly it also stops your ability to be a member of a class action against them.  It also prevents you from sharing data regarding arbitration with the public.

This greatly benefits Discord as well as gives them protection against larger lawsuits as each one has to be handled individually costing individuals a lot of money to move forward.  

## Why this is likely happening

Like in the case of Roku, Discord is seeing increase legal activity against them as parents have been suing them regarding child predators reaching their children through Discord.  In the case of Roku, I believe they made the change due to a security breach that affects 567,000 of their customers.  This is the second major security breach Roku has suffered in 2024.

## What you can do about it?

In most cases, you can't do a lot to prevent it.  Like in the case of Roku, they force you to accept their new terms of service to continue to use the device you have paid for.

You can however file a formal request to opt out of arbitration.  The National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) has provided a template you can use to do this.

 https://img.inleo.io/DQmSoj9yAgC87eD54UKXnGscXrXMsMzimXiKx7oVL375ggU/image.png 
<sub>[Source](https://www.nclc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Opt-out-of-arbitration-form.pdf)</sub>

I recommend clicking the link for the source and reading the entire document but I will provide that below as well.

https://img.inleo.io/DQmbifGJsjp7wcAseCJcd46x3NagdwMvdeN6ow3bCrX4mWx/image.png 
<sub>[Source](https://www.nclc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Opt-out-of-arbitration-form.pdf)</sub>

You only have a couple of weeks to take action, so if this is a concern of yours, I recommend doing so immediately.

I also recommend you check out https://fairarbitrationnow.org/ to read more about the movement to stop these unfair forced arbitration clauses.

## Why is forced arbitration so bad?

* Forced arbitration is suppose to be a fair third party handling the dispute fairly.  For an individual, this is considerably more expensive than being part of a larger class action lawsuit.  

* Consumer protection laws and protections don't have much influence on the decisions made in arbitration. 

* You also give up any ability to appeal the decision of arbitration.

* Any settlement is likely considerably less than you would receive through the courts.

* Finally, these arbitration are held in secret protecting the companies as well as making it much harder to prove your case without previous precedent.  

These are all huge benefits to companies like Discord with almost no downside.  In most cases, this is enough to prevent anyone from even trying to seek justice.


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