Mastodon vs Discord

Followers-only and direct posts may be stored on other servers, and the policy warns that server operators or recipients may view, screenshot, copy, or resh​are them. In practice, these messages are not treated as truly private.

The service records your login IP address and says the latest IP address used may be stored for up to 12 months. That is a meaningful amount of identity-linked metadata retention.

The policy says Mastodon does not sell or trade your personal information. That reduces the risk of ad-tech style sharing or monetization of your data.

You can request and download an archive of your content, including posts, media, and profile images. This makes it easier to back up your data or move on from the service.

The policy says you may irreversibly delete your account at any time. That gives users a clear exit path, though deletion is permanent.

Cookies are used to recognize your browser and associate it with your account, as well as save preferences. This is standard, but it does mean persistent browser tracking on the site.

Server logs containing IP addresses are retained, if kept at all, for no more than 90 days. That is a relatively limited retention period for operational logs.

Your information may be used for moderation, including checking for ban evasion by comparing IP addresses. This is a normal platform operation, but it means account and network activity are used for enforcement.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.