Discord now encrypts your voice and video calls
Discord, the popular communication platform for gamers and online communities, has introduced end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for its audio and video calls. This significant update ensures that even Discord itself cannot access the content of these conversations. The leading group chat application boasts a user base of over 200 million monthly users. The privacy move to encrypt voice and video calls follows a trend set by other popular chat apps like iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, and Facebook Messenger.
Discord's E2EE rollout: A step toward enhanced privacy
The implementation of E2EE on Discord was announced by Stephen Birarda, a software engineer at the company. He stated that "Today, we'll start migrating voice and video in DMs, Group DMs, voice channels, and Go Live streams to use E2EE." Birarda also clarified that users would be able to verify when calls are end-to-end encrypted and authenticate other participants in those calls.
Discord's E2EE does not extend to private messages
Despite the new security measures for voice and video calls, Birarda confirmed that private messages on Discord will not benefit from end-to-end encryption. He explained this decision by stating, "While audio and video will be end-to-end encrypted, messages on Discord will continue to follow our content moderation approach and are not end-to-end encrypted." This statement suggests that the company's focus remains on balancing user privacy with effective content moderation.
Discord's encryption protocol reviewed by cybersecurity firm
Discord has released a paper detailing its encryption protocol, which was reviewed by Trail of Bits, a cybersecurity consulting firm. The company is also making the code for this protocol available as open source. This move demonstrates Discord's commitment to transparency and security in its implementation of end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls on the platform.
