Discord's Community Guidelines list 27 rules under three headings: respect each other, respect Discord, and follow applicable laws. The current version took effect on 29 September 2025 (last updated 29 August 2025), and Discord says the Guidelines are part of its Terms of Service and apply to everything on the platform, including your content, behaviour and communities.
This is a plain-English summary of Discord's own wording as of Nov 2026, not legal advice. The full text sits on Discord's Community Guidelines page, and if you run a server for a brand or a client, it's worth reading in full once. What follows will tell you where to focus.
How the rules are organised
Discord groups its 27 rules into three sections. Here's the shape of each, paraphrased:
| Group | Examples of what isn't allowed, as Discord lists them | Rule numbers |
|---|---|---|
| Respect each other | Harassment, threats, sharing someone's personal information without consent, hate speech, violent extremism, any sexual content involving minors, explicit content where it can't be age-restricted, non-consensual intimate media, content glorifying self-harm, violence or gore shared to shock | 1 to 12 |
| Respect Discord | Spam and spam tools, self-bots, fake engagement, buying or selling Discord assets, harmful misinformation, deceptive impersonation, evading bans, phishing and malware, financial scams, fraud, false reports to support | 13 to 23 |
| Follow applicable laws | Breaking intellectual property rights (including selling game cheats), selling regulated or dangerous goods, illegal gambling, illegal activity that harms another person | 24 to 27 |
Most people reading this will never come near the first group. The second group is where well-meaning businesses and community managers get caught, so that's where I'll spend the most time.
Respect each other: the people rules
Rules 1 to 12 protect people. In short, Discord bans harassment, threats, doxxing, hate speech and support for violent extremism. It has strict rules protecting anyone under 18: no sexual content or conduct involving minors, and under-18s themselves may not engage in sexual conduct or anything that puts their safety at risk. Adults can't share intimate media of other adults without consent, and content that glorifies suicide or self-harm, or violence and gore shared to shock, isn't allowed.
Two details matter for anyone running a server. First, Discord counts ban or block evasion and coordinating server joins to harass people, which it calls server raiding, as harassment. Second, sexually explicit content has to sit in age-restricted channels, and it can't appear anywhere that can't be age-restricted: avatars, custom statuses, bios, server banners, server icons, invite splashes, emojis and stickers. If your server allows adult content in channels, your public-facing artwork still has to be clean.
Age rules have their own page on my site; see Discord's age requirement for how old you need to be to use it.
Respect Discord: where brands get caught
Rules 13 to 23 are about using the platform honestly. These are the ones I'd print out for any marketer running a Discord community:
- Spam (rule 13). No unsolicited bulk messages. Discord also bans selling spambots, server raid tools, account-creation tools, token generators and CAPTCHA-solving services.
- Self-bots (rule 14). No self-bots or user-bots. Discord says each account must be associated with a human, not a bot. Real bot accounts are fine; automating your personal account isn't.
- Fake engagement (rule 15). No artificially inflating server membership, manipulating engagement metrics or selling artificial engagement services.
- Buying and selling assets (rule 16). No buying or selling Discord accounts, usernames, servers, server permissions or custom server invite links.
- Impersonation (rule 18). No fake profiles or deceptive impersonation of a person, group or organisation.
- Ban evasion (rule 19). No coming back with new or existing accounts or communities after a permanent Discord-level removal.
Rule 16 surprises people the most. That growth agency offering to sell you an established server, or a contact selling a short custom invite link, is offering you something Discord's rules ban outright. The same goes for buying a username.
The rest of the group covers misinformation that could lead to significant risk of physical or societal harm, phishing, malware and flooding a target with traffic, financial scams, fraud, and false or abusive reports to Discord's support teams.
Follow applicable laws
Rules 24 to 27 point back to the law. Discord bans content that violates someone's intellectual property, and it names sharing or selling game cheats and hacks as an example. It also bans selling regulated or dangerous goods, illegal gambling, and illegal activity that harms another person's dignity, safety or wellbeing, including human trafficking and sexual solicitation.
If you plan to earn from content on Discord, the Guidelines point to separate Monetisation Policy and Monetisation Terms, which add rules on top.
What happens when someone breaks the rules
Discord says its Trust and Safety team reviews reports from users, moderators, trusted third-party partners, or where the law requires it. When it finds a violation, it may take enforcement steps based on how serious the breach is, including warnings. What a warning looks like in practice is covered in my guide to Discord's warning system.
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If you see something that breaks the Guidelines, Discord's answer is to report it. Here's the sequence Discord describes:
- Notice an account, server or content that appears to break the Guidelines.
- Report it to Discord rather than dealing with it yourself.
- Discord's Trust and Safety team reviews the report.
- If it finds a violation, Discord decides on enforcement based on severity, which can include a warning.
Discord also says it strongly discourages vigilantism and may take action against it. The click-by-click reporting steps are in my page on reporting someone on Discord.
The spirit of the rules counts too
This is the line most summaries leave out. Discord says the Guidelines will keep evolving, and that it may act against an account, server or content that breaks the spirit of the Guidelines when it meets a new threat or harm the current wording doesn't cover. It says it'll make its best effort to tell you about updates, but following them is up to you.
So hunting for a loophole isn't a strategy. If something feels like spam, fake growth or a way round a ban, assume Discord will treat it that way.
My verdict for business servers
I'd start by reading the respect Discord section with your team, because that's where marketing habits collide with Discord's rules: bulk DMs, bought members and automated personal accounts. Skip any offer to buy an established server, a username or a short custom invite link, since rule 16 bans the trade itself. And I'd keep your server artwork, emojis and invite splash clean whatever your channels allow, because those spaces can't be age-restricted.
Frequently asked questions
How many rules are in Discord's Community Guidelines?
There are 27 rules in three groups: respect each other (rules 1 to 12), respect Discord (rules 13 to 23) and follow applicable laws (rules 24 to 27), as of Nov 2026.
When did the current Discord Community Guidelines take effect?
Discord's current Guidelines are effective from 29 September 2025 and were last updated on 29 August 2025.
Are the Community Guidelines part of Discord's Terms of Service?
Yes. Discord says the Guidelines are incorporated into its Terms of Service and further explain what isn't allowed.
Is it against Discord's rules to buy a server or account?
Yes. Rule 16 says you can't buy or sell Discord accounts, usernames, servers, server permissions or custom server invite links.
What does Discord do when someone breaks the rules?
Discord's Trust and Safety team reviews reports and may take enforcement steps based on severity, including warnings.
