[DigitalToday Yoo Seung-a (유승아), intern reporter] Discord is changing its policy so conversations in large public servers can be searched on Google and other search engines. The move aims to make useful information easier to find, but it has also raised concerns that user chats could be exposed to a wider internet beyond existing communities.

On Oct. 28 (all times local), Discord and foreign media said the measure targets "discoverable servers" that have at least 1,000 members, can be joined without an invite and are listed in Discord’s public directory.

Discord plans to provide a web page for each eligible server from Nov. 16 and allow summaries of public-channel conversations to be posted. From mid-December, individual messages posted in those channels could also appear on web pages and in search engine results. Messages written before the policy takes effect are excluded, and published messages will not display user names or avatars.

Discord said it has become harder to find useful answers as online communities moved from bulletin boards to its server-based model. It said valuable information has been buried in Discord chats, making it difficult for internet users to access, and it aims to make it easier to find through search.

Users were divided. Some said they were concerned that even chats in public servers could spread beyond the communities they intended. Others welcomed the change, saying it has become harder to find information through search since communities moved to Discord.

The policy could also affect cryptocurrency communities that use Discord for technical discussions, user support and project announcements. Cointelegraph, which checked Discord’s public directory, found about 800 servers tagged "cryptocurrency", about 1,400 tagged "trading" and more than 700 tagged "finance". Discord said there are more than 63,000 discoverable servers in total.

Users can limit message exposure by turning off the setting, "Display my message content in discoverable channels on web pages," under the "Data and Privacy" menu in user settings. The setting applies across all discoverable servers a user has joined. For users in South Korea, Australia, the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom, Canada and Brazil, the feature is turned off by default, and teenage users are excluded.

Even if the setting is turned off later, messages written while it was enabled could remain exposed. If a message is deleted, it is removed from Discord’s web pages, but cached copies stored by search engines may remain for a period of time. Server administrators can block exposure of messages for specific channels or an entire server in "Web Presence" under server settings, and can also turn off the conversation summary feature separately.