佛罗里达州塔拉哈西——佛罗里达州于周四对Discord提起民事诉讼，与其他州一同对这一热门社交平台所谓“宽松”的儿童安全保护措施展开审查。
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida filed a civil lawsuit against Discord on Thursday, joining other states in scrutinizing the allegedly “lax” child safety protections afforded by the popular social platform.
该州要求Discord赔偿可能高达数百万美元的损失，声称该公司误导并欺骗了儿童及其父母，使其对应用内的安全措施产生误解。官方指出，该应用“已成为针对佛罗里达州儿童的掠夺性和剥削性活动的温床”。此举是州总检察长詹姆斯·乌特迈尔（James Uthmeier）针对科技行业发起的最新法律行动。他正利用其职权，积极挑战各大公司，尤其关注它们在保护儿童方面的监管措施——或所谓监管缺失问题。
The state is seeking potentially millions in damages from Discord, claiming the company misled and deceived children and their parents about safety measures on the app, which officials maintain has “become a hotbed for predatory and exploitative activities” targeting kids in Florida. The move is the latest legal action against the tech industry by state Attorney General James Uthmeier, who is using his office to aggressively challenge companies, particularly over their guardrails — or purported lack thereof — for protecting children.
乌特迈尔在提交至格莱德斯县巡回法院的诉讼文件中写道：“从账户创建和平台使用，到内容审核与执行，Discord构建了一款存在缺陷的应用，其核心是最低限度的安全设置、放任式的审核机制以及宽松的规则执行。正因如此，儿童掠夺者及其他不法分子在Discord中找到了藏身之所。”拥有超过9000万活跃日用户的Discord，已成为各州总检察长和政策制定者的重要目标。
“From account initiation and platform use to content moderation and enforcement, Discord has built a flawed application centered on minimal safety settings, hands-off moderation, and lax rule enforcement,” Uthmeier wrote in the lawsuit filed in Glades County circuit court. “As a result, child predators and other bad actors have found a haven in Discord.”
他们对该应用上所谓正在发生的事件日益批评，而该应用尤其在儿童群体中广受欢迎。除佛罗里达州外，得克萨斯州总检察长肯·帕克斯顿（Ken Paxton）于5月起诉了Discord。此前，该州曾对该公司展开调查，因为据报道，一名23岁的犹他州男子正是通过该应用实施了枪击保守派评论员查理·柯克（Charlie Kirk）的致命袭击。
Discord, with more than 90 million active daily users, has become a notable target for state attorneys general and policymakers, who are growing increasingly critical of what’s purportedly unfolding on the app, which is especially prominent among children. Outside of Florida, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Discord in May after initially probing the company because it was reportedly used by the 23-year-old Utah man accused of fatally shooting conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
此外，民主党籍的内华达州总检察长亚伦·福特（Aaron Ford）也在5月起诉Discord，称其将年轻用户置于“严重危险之中”，且“未能向内华达州的父母充分说明这些危险”；而共和党籍的阿肯色州总检察长蒂姆·格里芬（Tim Griffin）则于6月以类似指控提起了诉讼。
Additionally, Democratic Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford sued Discord in May, claiming it places young users “in grave danger” and fails “to adequately explain those dangers to Nevada parents,” while Republican Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed suit in June with similar charges.
在佛罗里达州提起的诉讼中，乌特迈尔声称：“Discord 的平台设计、定向营销以及虚假的安全承诺已经并持续对佛罗里达州的孩子造成严重伤害。”诉状中列举了多起成年人涉嫌通过 Discord 应用虐待儿童的案例。例如，一名来自海兰兹县的 19 岁男子曾诱骗一名来自迈阿密-戴德县的 11 岁女孩交换露骨性图片和视频，随后对其实施性侵犯并绑架。
In Florida’s lawsuit, Uthmeier contends “Discord’s platform design, targeted marketing, and false safety promises have caused and continue to cause significant harm to Florida children.”The complaint cites several cases of adults allegedly abusing children through the Discord app, such as a 19-year-old man from Highlands County manipulating an 11-year-old girl from Miami-Dade County to exchange sexually explicit images and videos before sexually assaulting and kidnapping her.
诉状还称，另一起案件中，一名来自田纳西州的 29 岁男子涉嫌对一名来自马里恩县的 14 岁女孩进行诱导、性虐待和绑架，强迫她制作儿童色情制品，并将自己网名的一部分刻在了她的皮肤上。
In another instance, a 29-year-old from Tennessee allegedly groomed, sexually abused and kidnapped a 14-year-old girl from Marion County, coercing her to produce child pornography and cutting part of his online username into her skin, according to the lawsuit.
因此，乌特迈尔正以违反该州《欺骗性和不公平贸易行为法》为由起诉 Discord。他此前也曾依据该法律，对 TikTok 以及拥有 Facebook 和 Instagram 的 Meta 等社交媒体公司提起诉讼。乌特迈尔声称，Discord 在无需进行年龄验证或获得家长同意的情况下，设计、提供并维护了一个佛罗里达州消费者可以访问的平台。同时，乌特迈尔的诉状还指出：“儿童可以伪装成成年人，而成年人也可以伪装成儿童。”上个月，在面临法律压力之际，Discord 推出了一项年龄验证系统。
As such, Uthmeier is going after Discord over alleged violations of the state’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, which he is also using to bring lawsuits against social media companies like TikTok and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram. Uthmeier claims Discord is designing, offering and maintaining a platform accessible to consumers in Florida without requiring age verification or parental consent. All the while, Uthmeier’s suit adds, “children can pretend to be adults and adults can pretend to be children.”Last month, Discord introduced an age verification system amid legal pressure.
“但其临时推出的这些改变无法弥补过去多年造成的伤害，也不足以防止未来可能发生的伤害，”乌特迈尔的诉状中写道。
“But its late-breaking changes cannot undo years of past harm. And they are not enough to prevent future harm,” according to Uthmeier’s lawsuit.
乌特迈尔于3月开始对Discord展开调查，当时他向该公司发出传票，要求提供有关其“向儿童进行营销、执行年龄验证要求、内容审核、家长控制功能以及剥削行为举报”等细节的信息。
Uthmeier began investigating Discord in March, when he subpoenaed the company seeking details surrounding its “marketing to children, enforcing age-verification requirements, content moderation, parental control features, and reporting of exploitative activity.”
“我们对网络儿童捕食者的许多刑事调查最终都指向同一个地方：Discord，”乌特迈尔当时表示。“那些诱骗者和捕食者似乎认为，他们可以在Discord上针对儿童而逍遥法外——我们将要查明原因。Discord有责任向我们解释为何其平台被大量捕食者使用，以及他们正在采取哪些措施来保护儿童。”
“Many of our criminal investigations into internet child predators lead to one place: Discord,” Uthmeier said at the time. “Groomers and predators seem to believe that they can get away with targeting children on Discord — and we are going to find out why. Discord owes us an explanation on the overwhelming use of its platform among predators, and what they are doing to protect children.”