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Facebook vs Discord

Side-by-side comparison of the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy of Facebook and Discord.

Facebook logo
Facebook
Social
★★★☆☆
Mixed

The service offers some meaningful privacy controls and does not sell personal data, but it collects and shares a lot of information, heavily personalizes ads, and gives itself broad moderation, licensing, and retention powers. Overall it is not unusually hostile, but users should expect significant data use and limited control over public content.

Facebook’s legal terms are fairly detailed and give Meta broad rights to host, use, and promote content and ads, while also reserving strong enforcement powers over accounts and content. The documents include some user-friendly elements like advance notice for material terms changes, no sale of personal data to advertisers, deletion and portability tools, and consumer-court language for some disputes. However, data collection is extensive, public content can spread widely, and deletion may take up to 90 days plus backup retention.

Points of interest

  • negative ●●●●● privacy
    Extensive data collection

    Meta collects information you provide, your activity, devices, contacts, and data from partners and third parties. In practice, this means Facebook can build a very detailed profile even from activity outside the app.

  • negative ●●●●○ privacy
    Partner tracking via pixels

    The policy says Meta receives information through cookies, pixels, and similar technologies from other websites and apps. This can connect your off-Facebook browsing and app activity back to your account or ad profile.

  • negative ●●●●○ privacy
    Public content spreads widely

    Some information is public by default, and public content can be viewed, reshared, downloaded, and even appear off Meta. Users should assume public posts may travel far beyond Facebook.

  • negative ●●●●○ terms
    Broad content license

    By posting content, you grant Meta a worldwide, sublicensable license to use, modify, distribute, and create derivatives. That gives Meta wide operational freedom to reuse what you upload while it remains on its systems.

  • negative ●●●●○ terms
    Deletion can take months

    Account or content deletion can take up to 90 days, plus another 90 days to remove copies from backups and disaster recovery systems. Some content can also be retained longer for legal, safety, or technical reasons.

  • positive ●●●●○ terms
    No data sales to advertisers

    Meta states it does not sell your personal data to advertisers and does not share directly identifying information without permission. That is better than a true data-selling model, though it still uses your data for ad targeting.

  • positive ●●●●○ privacy
    Deletion tools available

    You can delete individual content, delete your account, and trash items begin a deletion process automatically after 30 days. The policy also says deleted items are removed from visibility while deletion is pending.

  • negative ●●●○○ terms
    Heavy ad personalization

    Facebook uses your personal data to show personalized ads and sponsored content, including across Meta products and sometimes off-platform. Even though Meta says it does not sell your personal data, your activity is still used for targeted advertising.

  • negative ●●●○○ terms
    Strong account enforcement

    Meta can remove content, restrict features, suspend, disable, or delete accounts for serious or repeated violations, often in its discretion. Some review explanations may be withheld for safety, legal, or technical reasons.

  • positive ●●●○○ privacy
    Data portability supported

    Meta says you can download your information and, in some cases and subject to law, port it. This gives users at least some ability to take their data elsewhere.

  • positive ●●●○○ terms
    Consumer courts preserved

    For consumers, disputes are governed by the law of your country and may be brought in competent local courts. That is more user-friendly than forcing all users into a distant arbitration forum.

  • positive ●●○○○ terms
    Advance notice of changes

    Meta says it will notify users at least 30 days before material Terms changes, unless the change is required by law. That gives users a chance to review updates before they take effect.

Documents

Discord logo
Discord
Social
★★★☆☆
Mixed

Discord provides notable privacy controls, says it does not sell personal information, offers deletion/access tools, and gives notice of major privacy-policy changes. However, it also uses broad categories of data for personalization, ads, and service improvement, allows extensive sharing with vendors and some advertising partners, and includes strong legal protections for itself such as mandatory arbitration, class-action waiver, liability caps, and broad termination rights.

Discord’s terms and privacy policy are relatively transparent and offer meaningful user controls like data access, deletion, and some limits on personalization. But the service also collects broad usage and content data, shares data with vendors/advertisers, reserves broad moderation and termination rights, and imposes arbitration, class-action waiver, liability limits, and indemnity obligations on many users.

Points of interest

  • negative ●●●●● terms
    Mandatory arbitration waiver

    U.S. and Canada users generally must resolve disputes through individual arbitration, not court, and waive jury trials and class actions. This can make it harder and sometimes more expensive to pursue claims.

  • negative ●●●●○ terms
    Liability capped at $100

    If Discord harms you, its financial responsibility is heavily limited to the greater of what you paid in the prior three months or $100. That can sharply reduce practical remedies for outages, data loss, or other service issues.

  • negative ●●●●○ terms
    Broad indemnity obligation

    You may have to cover Discord’s legal costs and liabilities for claims related to your use, content, violations, or misconduct. This shifts significant risk onto users, especially creators or server operators.

  • positive ●●●●○ privacy
    No sale of personal data

    Discord expressly says it does not sell personal information and says its business is funded by subscriptions, paid products, and sponsored content instead. That is a meaningful privacy-positive commitment.

  • positive ●●●●○ privacy
    Strong account deletion tools

    Users can disable or delete their account from settings, and Discord says deletion permanently removes identifying information and anonymizes other data. This gives users a clear exit path, though some retention exceptions remain.

  • positive ●●●●○ privacy
    Data access and portability

    You can request a copy of your data in settings, and Discord says it provides the data in common digital formats such as JSON. This supports transparency and portability if you want to review or move your information.

  • negative ●●●○○ terms
    Broad content license

    You keep ownership of what you post, but Discord gets a worldwide, transferable, sublicensable license to use and adapt it for operating and improving the service. That is common, but still a broad grant users should understand.

  • negative ●●●○○ privacy
    Extensive data collection

    Discord collects account details, messages and uploads, device and usage data, purchase data, and information from advertisers and other third parties. This supports personalization, safety, analytics, and advertising of Discord itself.

  • negative ●●●○○ privacy
    Content used for moderation models

    Public or widely available content and some reported material may be used to build automated safety and moderation systems. Users should know their content may help train detection systems, not just be displayed to recipients.

  • negative ●●●○○ terms
    Can suspend or terminate broadly

    Discord can suspend or terminate accounts for violations, legal demands, safety concerns, risk to others, or even over two years of inactivity. It may do so with or without notice, subject to law.

  • positive ●●●○○ privacy
    Privacy controls in settings

    Discord offers settings to limit personalization and some data use for service improvement, plus controls for visibility and safety features. These controls do not eliminate collection entirely, but they give users meaningful choices.

  • positive ●●●○○ privacy
    Notice for major privacy changes

    Discord says it will date updates and provide more prominent notice when privacy-policy changes are significant, such as email or in-app highlighting where required. This is better than silent policy changes.

Documents

Comparison is based on each service's published Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Read the source documents linked above before relying on any specific clause.