Really annoying!
They also sell that number, all your chat logs, voice calls and media to AI training companies.
Dont be a loser, dont use discord.
Source? The only record of data being sold I remember is some 3rd-party that scraped public servers.
Per their privacy policy they collect
Content you create. This includes any content that you upload to the service. For example, you may write messages or posts (including drafts), send voice messages, create custom emojis, or post other content that you create with features that we develop. You may also upload and share files through the services.
Thats what they collect(so not the calls apparently my bad). In regards to how they use it, they mention advertisement stuff and the usual vague language of “improve our services” and “personalization”. The AI stuff is supposedly opt in, but they collect the data and they are subject to US subpoenas so all bets are off anyways.
There was a server I poked around in once that required members to provide phone number just to join. Seems very unethical considering all the bad things that can happen from identity theft or stalking… it’s not like mods are employees for Discord. They’re just random mofos. Why would I trust a stranger on the Internet of all places?
The server owners can’t see your phone number. Discord allows you to set a minimum verification level for users in your server. The lowest is simply having a verified email on their account. The highest is a verified email, a few minutes old (so no brand new accounts), been in the server for a few minutes, and a verified phone number. It’s just a bot prevention thing, because spammers/scammers are a big issue on large Discord servers. Especially early in Discord’s history, it was a big issue where bots would raid a server and just totally shut it down with spam links. So Discord started allowing server owners to set minimum verification levels before users could interact and send messages.