Discord members are biting their nails. As reports swirl that the social networks business is preparing a going public this year and progressively leans on marketing income, there’s worry that Discord will end up being swallowed up in the enshittification that has actually currently scarred a lot of online neighborhoods. Co-founder and CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy declares he’s concerned about that, too.

In an interview with Engadget released today, Vishnevskiy declared that Discord workers routinely go over issues about Discord going astray and outraging users.

“I understand the anxiety and concern,” Vishnevskiy stated. “I think the things that people are afraid of are what separate a great, long-term focused company from just any other company.”

There are factors for veteran Discord users to fret about the platform altering for the even worse in the coming years. The most apparent one is Discord’s venture into advertisements, something the business has actually prevented because introducing in 2015. Discord began revealing advertisements in March 2024 by means of its desktop and console apps. Ever since, it has actually presented video advertisements to its mobile app and introduced Orbs, which Discord users can make by clicking advertisements in Discord and trade for in-game benefits. Discord likewise just recently stated that it prepares to begin offering advertisements to more business.

Fanning expectations of Discord going public quickly and looking various in the future, Discord co-founder and CEO Jason Citron left in April. His replacement, Humam Sakhnini, has experience leading public business, like Activision Blizzard. When Citron revealed his departure in April, GamesBeat asked him if Discord was going public. Citron declared there were “no specific plans” Included that “working with somebody like Humam is an action in that instructions.” Vishnevskiy decreased to discuss a prospective Discord IPO while talking to Engadget.

Amidst existing and impending modifications, however, Vishnevskiy declares to be considering Discord’s enshittification danger, informing Engadget:

I’m absolutely the one who’s continuously raising enshittification [at internal meetings]It’s not a bad thing to develop a strong organization and to generate income from an item. That’s how we can reinvest and continue to make things much better. We have to be very thoughtful about how we do that.

Discord has actually axed bad concepts before

For some, the addition of advertisements is automated enshittification. Discord’s advertisement load, at least for now, is minimally invasive. The advertisements appear in sidebars within the platform that broaden just if clicked upon and can cause user benefits.