this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2023
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148
Discord refuses to remove my phone number attached to my account (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Gush@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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Hi, there's this situation i currently have with discord support, that they refuse to delete my phone number from my account. Basically every time i try to manually remove it, my account gets locked up until i add another phone number in order to continue accessing the service, "for security reasons" with no option for email verification (of course).

I contacted the support team asking for clarifications and if they could remove the phone number and, in short, they said that they couldn't do that since my account was flagged somehow, and that they won't remove the phone verification...

(their email)

Now, what are your opinions about this? Should i use a free voip number site in order to replace my real phone number with the fake one? My concern is that i don't know who could own that number so i don't know if it's safe to trust it, and i'm not willing to spend any money for this

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[–] negativedelta@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Are you from the EU? If so, just threaten them with reporting them to the GDPR people

[–] Gush@lemmy.ml 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

luckily i've found this website that could help me with this

[–] Asudox@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's really helpful, thanks.

[–] Gush@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

"Beware, Discord is very shifty when it comes to privacy data requests. Last year their Privacy Policy stated "In addition to the functionality available through the “Settings” of the Services, in which you can correct, update, amend, or delete certain personal data, you can also request . . . from us directly. Please write us at privacy@discord.com with the words “Personal Data Request” in the subject . . . along with an explanation of what data subject right you are seeking to exercise."

However they have since removed that text and there is a new clause that states they have a dedicated "Data Protection Officer" email. See, what they don't tell you is that privacy@discord.com is only for questions about privacy - not data requests. They have kept their DPO email hidden until recently and now it shows on their privacy policy as stated "You can contact Discord’s Data Protection Officer at dpo@discord.com." Curiously, they have removed all mention of "Personal Data Request" from their Privacy Policy. So unless you know what you are doing, you wouldn't know what to look for. Just a heads up!"

This comment was made by a certain "Joe" under the section of Contact information for privacy-related requests to “Discord, Inc.” on that same website i linked. So as he said if you will report a deletion request for Discord, make sure you send it to their Data Protection Officer at dpo@discord.com.

[–] DocBlaze@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

If you are not but always used the service behind a European based VPN/IP, I wonder if you would be able to call their bluff with this line.

[–] Atemu@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

The will give exactly 0 fucks about that.

[–] Sabata11792@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

I wonder if anyone from the US had any luck with these request. Not that it has any jurisdiction but more of a “not my job to sort them" type deal.

[–] itchy_lizard@feddit.it 1 points 1 year ago

Unfortunately this is not a violation of GDPR unless they refused to delete all of your data.

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You could delete the account.

[–] Gush@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I want that to be the last resort

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Even if you change the phone number they're going to keep a record of your previous numbers.

[–] Gush@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

then i guess it would be the same if i "delete" my account?

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Correct. You could use GDPR regulations to have them remove all your information once the account's gone.

And then over time frame they are required to forget about you.

But they are never ever ever going to forget a phone number, they will call it a security matter and keep it for anti-fraud purposes. I believe that's allowed.

Basically once your personal information is associated with a online account it is tainted. And if you are worried about your personal information being attached to an account you can no longer use that account because it is in fact tainted forever

[–] Gush@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

So i guess i should delete this account and create another one in discord, because what i want to do is to bridge it with matrix. By the way i remember there was a site that could write examples of requests about deleting account informations under the GDPR, do you for istance remember this kind of site because i write like ass when it comes to gdpr requests and i'm not convincing enough to scare them.

edit: i found this useful website https://www.datarequests.org/blog/sample-letter-gdpr-erasure-request/ that writes a complete deletion requests under the gdpr laws. It even lists the data protection officer's email from discord (which is where you should send your GDPR related deletion requests but that's obviously not stated into discord privacy policy) plus other useful informations: https://www.datarequests.org/company/discord

[–] Whirlybird@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

GDPR only applies to those in Europe btw. Not everyone can just use gdpr regulations to have their information removed.

[–] Gush@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

luckily i live in Europe!

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 0 points 1 year ago

How does discord know you don't live in Europe now? You could have moved recently.

[–] Whirlybird@aussie.zone 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Probably because they need your phone number to verify the account. If you don’t like it, delete your account (knowing they still have your phone number because you gave it to them).

If you didn’t want them having it, why did you give it to them in the first place?

[–] Gush@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 year ago

because back then i didn't know what privacy on the internet was

[–] spacedancer@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

One of the servers I’m in requires a phone number in order to post and comment. Glad I never added my number in the first place. OP, I hope you can eventually get your number removed.

[–] Gush@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

Thanks, this all thing is stressing me out in a way i can't explain to be honest

[–] Vlyn@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you want to use Discord nowadays you need a valid phone number, that's it.

Either you agree with it and use their service, or you don't and delete your account with all your data.

They use this to battle spam accounts (with quite some success, been over a year since I've been contacted by scammers), there is no good way around it.

[–] Skasi@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If you want to use Discord nowadays you need a valid phone number, that’s it.

No you don't. I can use it just fine without a phone number added.

[–] Gush@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

you just have to manage to not let your account flagged, but when that happens (and it will) then it's either voip number or your real phone number

[–] Skasi@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

you just have to manage to not let your account flagged

That seems to be very easy. I've been using it for over half a decade, am a member on dozens of very different servers, interacted with hundreds of people, wrote tens of thousands of messages - I actually checked all those numbers - and participated in discussions about all kinds of topics. My assumption is that the threshold for this sort of flag is set really high. Either that or it's different based on where you live, maybe based on laws or politics or such.

[–] Vlyn@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's an old account then. New ones don't work without. And at some point they suddenly force you to add a number out of nowhere.

[–] Skasi@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

New accounts work perfectly fine without a phone number as well. Only certain servers require one. It's an option in servers settings. It could also be a regional thing.

Image

It's interesting how the truth gets downvoted while misleading information gets upvoted. Apparently people like randomly clicking buttons without verifying anything. That seems like it could be really harmful. Since votes are public information, maybe there's a way to play around with that.

[–] Vlyn@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You don't get it. Server settings are only one part of it, Discord also has their own account wide policies.

For example I had a second account I used on Discord. Verified email, used it for years on and off every now and then. Last time I tried to login? No longer possible, I need to add a valid phone number and verify it. I couldn't even get back into the account at all!

No way around it, if Discord flags your account for whatever reason they log you out and force you to add a phone number. All it might take is you pressing logout once and next time you try to login you're blocked. If even that.

[–] Skasi@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yeah so just to clarify I totally believe you when you say that an account can technically get flagged. However, I don't believe that "New ones don’t work without [a phone number]" and I also don't believe that every account will be flagged eventually like the other commenter mentioned.

Remember, the initial comment I questioned was saying that "If you want to use Discord nowadays you need a valid phone number".

[–] Vlyn@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But you can easily test this yourself: Go and try to create a new Discord account without a phone number. Then try to use it.

I couldn't, Discord immediately forces me to add a phone number on login.

Maybe it's regional? Or they have different behavior based on your email address provider?

I gave up on having a second account.

[–] Skasi@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

But you can easily test this yourself: Go and try to create a new Discord account without a phone number. Then try to use it.

I did and I could use it.

Maybe it’s regional? Or they have different behavior based on your email address provider?

Yeah or maybe it's based on a cookie or IP ranges or other forms of tracking.

[–] om1k@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

that's weird. I just opened discord and deleted my phone number without any issues, just had to type password and 2fa and done. I did it in the android app btw.

[–] Gush@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago

I did it on android too, but that's not it. As i said, my account was flagged for some reason

[–] comcreator@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Discord is the worst, matrix is not the best but way better than discord

[–] Gush@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In terms of privacy, sure... but in terms of usage and beauty i sadly say that discord wins. I'm very attached to vencord which has many useful plugins that improve the discord user experience, there won't ever be something similar for matrix, ever

[–] QuazarOmega@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

"Ever" may be a bit pessimistic, Cinny is going the right way, not totally there yet, but it is their objective

[–] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Matrix is just reinventing the bike, go on xmpp

[–] QuazarOmega@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Can you have channels grouped under a server/space with it?

[–] jarfil@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Their system has "triggered successfully", great news everyone! 😃👍

/s

[–] ollie@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

using a free VoIP number isn't an option cause the moment you remove it discord with boot you off again, and keeping it is a huge security risk.

if you're a new discord account it's (in my experience) not possible to go without a verified phone number, their system is too sensitive

[–] karebu@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

I don't think there's a chance a VoIP number will work at all as Discord detects and purposefully blocks them.

[–] pqpera@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Had same problem a year ago and to this day I still didn't solve it

[–] Gush@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'll keep you updated soon, i'm currently waiting for discord dpo department to respond to my second email explicitely requesting the erasure of my account since in the first email they tried to divert the request into suggesting me to contact the privacy email of Discord, but as we all know that email is just for privacy questions and doesn't do erasures of accounts under specific requests or laws by the sender. It's been one week, they still have more or less three weeks left to respond. If they don't i'll take action and report them to the authorities

[–] Hamerdown@feddit.nl 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can you change it in a non existing number.

[–] Gush@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

No, it needs to be verified

[–] Warfarin@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

You use discord. What do you expect?