We know it’s important for users to understand what controls they have over their experience on Discord and how to be safer. Part of delivering a better, safer experience is making sure people don’t see content they don’t want to – whether that’s intrusive spam or unwanted explicit images. This article covers direct message filters, which can help reduce the amount of unwanted content you see on Discord and promote a safer environment for you.

For Individuals

You can control these settings by going into User Settings and selecting the Content & Social tab. You can learn more about sensitive content filters here.

Sensitive Content Filters

Discord works to detect if media posted on our platform may be sensitive. When these new filters are set to blur, they apply to all historic and new media. Navigate to User Settings > Content & Social to adjust your Sensitive content filter settings.

Sensitive Media settings in Content & Social

DM Spam Filter

Automatically send direct messages that may contain spam into a separate spam inbox by navigating to User Settings > Content & Social to find your Direct Message spam settings.

Direct Message spam settings in Content & Social

These filters are customizable and you can choose to turn them off. By default, these filters are set to Filter direct messages from non-friends. Choose Filter all direct messages if you want all direct messages that you receive to be filtered, or select Do not filter direct messages to turn these filters off.

For Server Owners

With the explicit image filter, you can automatically block messages in your server that may contain explicit images in channels that are not marked as Age-restricted.

You have the ability to manage this feature and determine whether it should apply to all members within the server or only to those who do not have assigned roles. Additionally, if this feature is not desired, it can be disabled entirely.

You can access this setting by navigating to Server Settings, and under Moderation, select Safety Setup, and then find the Explicit image filter section.

Explicit image filter settings in Server Settings

Age-restricted channels are exempt from the explicit image filter. Turning this filter on allows your server members to share content while reducing the risk of explicit images being posted in channels that are not age-restricted.