Thanks to Youtuber NoTextToSpeech for his brave finds and actions. We love you just as you do love us with keeping every discord user safe and aware of ongoing situations. Thanks, bud!
One week after the exposure of a website named Spy.pet, which had purportedly scrapped billions of public messages from Discord and was selling them, Discord has banned multiple accounts associated with the site, subsequently causing Spy.pet to go offline.
Discord initially responded to reports about Spy.pet by stating that they were “investigating the matter,” and would take appropriate action if violations of their Terms of Service and Community Guidelines were confirmed. Discord has followed through on this promise, according to a new report by 404 Media. Spy.pet was allegedly scraping data from up to 14,000 Discord servers at one point, although this number had dwindled to zero by April 25th, coinciding with the site going offline.
A representative from Discord informed 404 Media that their Safety team had been actively investigating the situation and had identified accounts believed to be associated with Spy.pet, resulting in their banning. The accounts in question had reportedly accessed open Discord servers or had gained entry through valid invite links, and Discord clarified that these accounts could only view information accessible to any other user in those servers.
A Spy.pet administrator acknowledged that Discord had indeed banned some of its bots, but attributed the reduction in server count on the website to a code update rather than Discord’s actions. They denied any intent for Spy.pet to facilitate harassment, despite reports of the site offering scraped content to Kiwi Farms, a platform known for its association with stalking and harassment.
Even without Discord’s intervention, Spy.pet likely faced significant legal challenges. StackDiary previously pointed out that Spy.pet’s activities likely violated the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the act of collecting and selling data from minors would probably breach the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
There is a possibility that Spy.pet could attempt a comeback. A message shared on Telegram after the website’s suspension indicated plans to establish a backup domain. However, Discord has indicated to 404 Media that they are contemplating further legal measures beyond banning associated accounts.
