Enshittification, Privacy Experiments and Excuses
It feels like we’re watching the real-time enshittification of yet another platform. If you’ve been following the latest drama, you already know Discord is firmly in the hot seat.
The current flashpoint is Discord’s new identity verification system. The company initially claimed that age-verification data — including facial scans — would remain on-device. That reassurance didn’t last long. Users were instead directed to Persona, a third-party identity provider that does receive a copy of that data.
Persona isn’t just a neutral infrastructure provider either. The company is backed by Founders Fund, the venture capital firm co-founded by Peter Thiel. Whether or not you think that matters personally, it’s information many users would have liked before being asked to hand over biometric data.
When questioned about the mismatch between their messaging and reality, Discord fell back on a familiar defence: this is just an experiment.
A Familiar Pattern
We’ve seen this story play out before. The browser wars were an early warning sign.
Remember when Brave Browser gained momentum as the privacy-first alternative? It didn’t take long for the cracks to appear. Brave was caught injecting affiliate codes into URLs, quietly earning referral revenue from crypto exchanges without clear user consent. That’s without even touching the long-running controversy around its founder, Brendan Eich, and his short, turbulent tenure as CEO of Mozilla.
The pattern is depressingly consistent:
build trust → capture the user base → monetise that trust once leaving becomes painful.
Discord now feels like it’s entering that phase. And people are noticing.
If you’re tired of being part of someone else’s product experiment, here’s where users are actually drifting.
The Alternatives
Stoat (formerly Revolt)
Stoat has emerged as the privacy-hardcore option following its rebrand late last year.
Pros: No phone number. No email. Just sign up and chat. It feels like a return to the early internet, when joining a space didn’t require handing over your identity.
Cons: It’s still very much in beta. Mobile support is rough around the edges, and the user base is small — though growing.
Root
Root is the closest thing to a drop-in Discord replacement.
Pros: Familiar UI, polished experience, and features like server tabs. It’s the easiest transition for people who don’t want to relearn how chat apps work.
Cons: It’s centralised and venture-capital backed. That doesn’t mean it’s bad today, but it does mean the enshittification timer is already running. You may just be moving to the next Discord — early.
Fluxer
Fluxer is a fast-moving open-source contender.
Pros: Web-first, lightweight, and refreshingly low-friction. You can even create an unclaimed account with no email or password just to explore. It’s AGPLv3-licensed, with self-hosting on the roadmap.
Cons: No native mobile apps yet (the web app works well), and it’s still under heavy development, so the occasional bug is part of the deal.
Matrix / Element
Matrix, usually accessed through Element, is the heavyweight of decentralised chat.
Pros: You control your data. No single company owns the network, and end-to-end encryption is standard.
Cons: Onboarding is still a hurdle. Choosing a homeserver, managing keys, and understanding federation quickly weeds out non-technical users. Powerful — but not beginner-friendly.
Steam Chat
The path of least resistance.
Pros: You already have Steam Chat installed. Voice quality is excellent, and it integrates directly with the games you’re playing.
Cons: It’s barebones. No persistent communities, no real server structure, and none of the ecosystem features Discord users expect.
Enclave
Enclave often comes up in privacy-focused discussions.
Pros: Strong emphasis on secure, private connectivity and controlled access.
Cons: It feels more like a networking solution than a social space. There’s little of the casual, community-driven feel that gamers or creators tend to want.
The Network Effect Problem
Online platforms are always in motion. We moved from IRC to Skype, from Skype to TeamSpeak and Mumble, and eventually from those to Discord.
The technology is rarely the hard part — the people are.
A platform only works when your community moves with you. You can pick the most ethical, decentralised, open-source option available, but if your friends, raid team, or moderation crew stay put, you probably will too.
Right now, we’re in a fragmentation phase. The monolith is cracking, but the next standard hasn’t emerged yet.
Where We Go Next
Discord doesn’t disappear overnight. Platforms rarely do. They erode slowly — one “experiment” at a time — until staying feels worse than leaving.
If this moment made you pause, that’s probably the point. You don’t have to delete your account today, but you can start asking harder questions about who you’re trusting with your identity, your community, and your data.
So where are you experimenting instead? Are you testing Stoat, Fluxer, Matrix, or something else entirely — or are you waiting to see how far Discord pushes before you move?
Drop your thoughts below. The fragmentation phase only ends when people start comparing notes.
https://tjcasey.vivaldi.net/2026/02/17/the-great-discord-exodus-where-do-we-go-next/
#brave #chat #communities #discord #element #enclave #fluxer #gaming #matrix #root #steam #stoat