[HN Gopher] Discord exploring sale that could be worth more than...
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       Discord exploring sale that could be worth more than $10B
        
       Author : coloneltcb
       Score  : 18 points
       Date   : 2021-03-22 20:56 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (venturebeat.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (venturebeat.com)
        
       | devwastaken wrote:
       | I remember having a discussion with the ceo of discord on their
       | api server. The statement was something of "we will never sell
       | user data". But our points of "okay but how about when you sell
       | discord?" fell on deaf ears.
       | 
       | Discord does not allow you to delete your messages in mass. If
       | you exit a server all of your messages, images, etc, are still
       | there. Even if you delete your account. Servers can only delete
       | up to some X amount of time if they choose to.
       | 
       | I have no doubt that just like facebook buying Oculus the
       | promises of any sale will be voided in the name of money.
       | 
       | We have to remember that when you build products with other
       | people's money, that money has to come back, and it has to come
       | out of it's users somehow.
        
       | ve55 wrote:
       | A few years ago I had thought that an acquisition of this nature
       | was obviously coming sooner or later, but the pool of potential
       | buyers got thinner as Discord gained more and more of their own
       | leverage and influence. At this point I don't think Discord
       | _needs_ to exit in this way, but it still might be a very
       | appealing option.
       | 
       | If the deal ends up occurring, I'd have to bet it is with either
       | Microsoft or Facebook, both contingent on antitrust (although I
       | feel like they'd be hard on FB here, but not MS, for whatever
       | reason, likely due to media influence). Although other contenders
       | could theoretically include Google or Amazon, it's a bit harder
       | to imagine. Tencent is already a minor investor, but selling to a
       | Chinese company would be particularly rough as well.
       | 
       | Additionally, a lot of Discord users have just keenly realized
       | who it is that actually holds power over their favorite platform,
       | including their online social life and 'private' chat logs, and
       | it is certain not the users themselves. But, at least the "We
       | will not sell your data" clause will have been _technically_
       | correct (the best kind of correct, of course).
        
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       (page generated 2021-03-22 23:03 UTC)