Discord reported that a bug in its safety system mistakenly banned more than 8,000 accounts since May 2026. The company confirmed that the issue had been affecting accounts during that period and that all affected accounts are currently in the process of being restored.

The issue stemmed from a glitch that caused the system to ban users entirely instead of temporarily preventing them from uploading content during review. Discord cofounder and Chief Technology Officer Stanislav Vishnevskiy stated that the bug impacted around 200 users who posted "grid-like" pictures. Vishnevskiy also stated that the bug impacted about 8,000 people who posted "other benign images" since May 2026. Users reported being banned from Discord after posting images containing grids, such as chessboards, game textures, and Minecraft inventories.

Discord stated that its automated safety system works by matching uploaded content against databases of known harmful material. The company stated that its safety system can produce "false positives," which triggers a review by an employee. "When our staff reviewed and cleared those accounts, the same bug prevented the ban from being lifted automatically, so it just stayed in place," Discord says. An additional 200 users were banned over the weekend before the company's team identified and fixed the problem. Discord stated on X that its safety system is designed to flag content by "matching it against known harmful material." The company wrote, "We're working on better safeguards so this can't happen again." Vishnevskiy says, "Everyone affected has now been unbanned."