Discord is adding a new tool for moderators to prevent harmful messages from appearing on its platform and is expanding its Premium Membership subscription.
The harmful language tool is called AutoMod and was revealed in a Power Rangers Chicken Parody on YouTube (opens in new tab). Despite the silliness of the ad video, AutoMod (opens in new tab) It’s a pretty important update that will help lighten the load on platform moderators, especially if they have to run a massive server.
automatic protection
As mentioned briefly, AutoMod prevents trolls from spamming a chat with hateful language. The way the tool works is that moderators first select the words or phrases to be banned from the server. Moderators can add the words or grab them from the commonly signed words (opens in new tab) list that is divided into three categories: slurs and insults, sexual content and serious profanity.
Once the words are added, moderators can select from three different responses. They can prevent the message with the harmful word from being posted, send an alert to moderators, or block the user. Discord also took into account bad actors trying to infiltrate the words and bypass AutoMod with the Wildcard feature.
Let’s say, for example, that a troll is trying to introduce a swear word, appending it as the suffix of another. Moderators can use the wildcard by placing asterisks before, after, or around a word to ensure that AutoMod detects it if someone is trying to hide harmful language. Exemptions can be added for moderators, admins, other users, or for entire channels through AutoMod.
Once this is all set up, AutoMod – true to its name – will automatically block and manage harmful language, taking the burden off moderators.
The tool is currently in beta and can be found under Content Moderation in Server Settings, according to discord (opens in new tab). You try AutoMod on the Discord browser app, mobile, Windows, macOS, and Linux. Also, the list of commonly signed words is only available in English. We asked Discord if the beta is US only and when they will add support for other languages, but we got no response.
growing premium
As for the Premium subscription, the company is expanding to other servers later this summer, but only in the US. not to be confused with Discord Nitro (opens in new tab) that adds new features to an account, Premium subscriptions are for individual servers.
It allows certain parts of a server to be behind a paywall. Memberships also allow admins to decide the price of different tiers and what perks people get. In the new update, there is a revamped analytics dashboard that displays more revenue information, support for custom emojis, and the ability to provide free membership trials to community members.
Discord concludes its major update by opening a new community page to teach moderators how to manage servers. If you’re interested in learning more about Discord, has a beginners guide.
June 16, 2022 Update:
Shortly after we posted this story, Discord got back to us about the availability of AutoMod.
The representative confirmed that AutoMod is available worldwide and you will need to enable community features in the Server Settings menu.
As for commonly flagged words, AutoMod can detect other languages, emojis, links, symbols, and punctuation. However, you will have to add them to your Custom Keyword Rules. Signed words will remain in English for now as Discord plans to add new features to AutoMod.