In two countries, leaders have decided that they believe the platform is illegal and have banned access to it without considering the side effects.

Discord is a playful messaging platform used by many people, whether on PC, iOS or Android. But the platform, which can be run from web browsers, has been banned in two countries. According to Reuters, in Turkey, Discord was reportedly hit with the banhammer because it refused to share information with Turkish authorities about allegations of child sexual abuse and obscenity.

“Security staff cannot go through the content. We can only intervene when users complain to us about content being shared there. Since Discord refuses to share its own information, including IP addresses and content, with our security units, we were forced to block access,” said Abdulkadir Uraloglu, Turkey’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities have also banned the software en bloc after San Francisco-based Discord was repeatedly fined for allegedly failing to comply with Russian law. Discord is accused of failing to delete thousands of articles that are illegal and banned in Russia, and the “government” intervened by blocking access. Thus, in addition to Facebook and Twitter, another platform was made inaccessible.

The ban on Discord has also severely affected developers working in the affected regions. “Now that Discord is also banned in Turkey, communication between our Finland – Turkey studios is now dead unless we use VPN in [our] Turkey office, which is considered illegal. I’m guessing that this mindless, clueless, arbitrary ban has affected around 800 Turkish studios and their creative work. For some studios, nothing can do what Discord does. What a stupid, ignorant, destructive move,” said Meric Eryuyek of Gaming Istabul.

A Discord spokesperson said they are aware of the bans and are investigating… not much, but it’s something.

Source: Gamesindutry