Discord will start showing public server messages in web search from mid-December

Discord said on October 27, 2026, that messages posted in public channels of its Discoverable Servers will start appearing on server web pages and in web search results from mid-December, unless server admins or, in most regions, the members who wrote them opt out. Every Discoverable Server will also get a public Server Web Page on November 16, which may show automated summaries of what its channels are discussing.

Discoverable Servers are the most public spaces on Discord, open to anyone without an invite link. To qualify, a server needs at least 1,000 members, must be at least eight weeks old and has to meet activity and safety requirements. Discord says there are more than 63,000 of them. Private servers, direct messages and group DMs are not affected.

What changes, and when

Usernames and avatars will not appear next to messages or in summaries, and messages sent before mid-December will not be shown. Channels taking part carry a label in the channel header, and members see a pop-up before they post. Discord has piloted the feature with game communities including NBA 2K, Rust and Dead by Daylight, where only admins' and moderators' posts were shown.

Who has to opt out

The defaults decide how much ends up on the web. Both admin toggles are on by default, and public channels are included unless an admin removes them. If moderators do nothing, a default web page built from the server profile goes live on November 16. Servers that do not want a web page at all can switch back to being a Community Server, which people can join only with an invite link.

For members, the setting that lets their messages appear on the web is on by default in most regions. Discord says that, because of legal restrictions, it is off by default for accounts in the EU and European Economic Area, the UK, Canada, Brazil, Australia and South Korea. Accounts in the teen age group are excluded and cannot turn the setting on.

Switching the setting off only covers messages sent afterwards. Discord's help page puts it plainly: “Turning the setting off is not a bulk ‘remove my history’ action.” Deleting a message removes it from Discord and its web pages, but Discord says search engines keep their own cached copies, which may take time or a separate removal request to clear.

Discord's case for the change is that much of the help people once posted on open forums now sits inside its servers. It said valuable information has ended up “locked in Discord conversations, inaccessible to the wider internet.”

Part of a wider push on community discovery

The announcement came a day before Reddit began rolling out a choice of two home feeds. Announced on October 28, For You mixes posts from communities a user has joined with recommendations, while Following shows only joined communities. Reddit said the change will reach users globally over the next few weeks.

Both are among the places Americans find online community. In a Pew Research Center survey published on October 14, 15% of U.S. adults said they are part of an online community on discussion forums such as Reddit, Nextdoor or Discord, second only to social media at about a quarter. See our report on that survey.