Discord, one of the largest communication platforms in the world (a bigger gathering of gamers, developers and teenagers than any rival service), yesterday switched on end-to-end encryption for all voice and video calls, with no opt-in needed. Now not even Discord itself can listen in on or watch what's happening on the calls.

"End-to-end encryption is now standard for every voice and video call on Discord, outside the stage channels. No switch-on required," said Mark Smith, vice president of core technologies at Discord. The technology had existed since 2024, but it was opt-in - now it's automatic for hundreds of millions of users.

The contrast with the other big players is striking. Meta just killed end-to-end encryption on Instagram Messages, citing work on "improvement". TikTok, after being taken over by an American owner, openly said it has no intention of even starting message encryption. Discord is doing the opposite: it's making standard what its competitors are removing.

Why the difference? Discord is most often used by communities that particularly care about privacy - moderators of gaming servers, security researchers, political activists. Betraying that trust right now would be business suicide. On the other hand, Meta and TikTok are operating under pressure from American regulators, who clearly signal that they want back-door access to messages. Discord, as a smaller player, has clearly decided to take the opposite position.

For a Balkan user, this means one concrete thing: if you want a call through Discord, no one (not law enforcement, not an ad algorithm, not even Discord itself) can eavesdrop on it. The question is whether and for how long this policy will hold under pressure. History shows that all platforms make concessions when the legal consequences become heavy enough. Until then, those who use Discord have the best privacy in its history.