Discord’s new features let parents monitor teens without reading texts

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Discord has just unveiled a major update to its Family Center, aiming to give parents more oversight of their teens’ activity—without sacrificing privacy.

The revamped dashboard now lets guardians see weekly purchase history, call time stats, and the top friends and servers their teens interact with.

Crucially, message content remains private—parents see patterns, but not the actual chats.

The move aligns Discord with other tech companies facing escalating calls for youth safety online. These updates let parents limit who can message their kids, filter sensitive content, and set data privacy preferences, including toggling personalized ads.

But not everyone is convinced. Advocacy groups and lawmakers have recently ramped up pressure, with Discord’s CEO even subpoenaed by the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this year to answer for child safety measures.

New Jersey recently filed a lawsuit alleging Discord’s controls create a “false sense of security” for parents while failing to keep predators at bay.

How to use Family Center (step-by-step)

Before you start

• You and your teen both need Discord accounts.
• Make sure both apps are up to date on mobile or desktop.
• You’ll link accounts together in Family Center (one-time setup).

1. Link your accounts

• On both devices, open Discord.
• Go to User Settings > Family Center.
• Follow the prompts to link the guardian and teen accounts.
• Confirm the link on both sides.

2. See your teen’s recent activity (last 7 days) In Family Center, you’ll both see the same overview:

• Top Users and Servers: The top five users and servers your teen most frequently messaged and called in the last week.
• Total Purchases: All purchases made in the last week, including Shop items and Nitro subscriptions.
• Total Call Minutes: Total minutes spent on voice and video calls in DMs, Group DMs, and servers.

While Discord’s parental controls still rely on teens approving connections and sharing QR codes, this update marks a step forward—albeit one critics say doesn’t go far enough.

As regulation tightens and public scrutiny intensifies, expect even more changes in how platforms like Discord manage youth safety.

Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com.