Why Discord, used by Nepal protesters and Charlie Kirk’s killer, is popular among Gen-Z

The Discord app has been in the news lately.

Tyler Robinson, the accused in the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, is said to have used the app. So did the students in Nepal, to coordinate protests against the government that led to the resignation of KP Sharma Oli as prime minister and to even select their new leader.

But what do we know about the app, which is popular with those who play video games? Let’s take a closer look:

What is it?

Discord is a social media and messaging app. It was created in 2015 in San Francisco by Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy. Citron is a video game player and engineer, while Vishnevskiy is an entrepreneur. The genesis behind the app was the frustration Citron faced, like many other gamers, while trying to talk to his friends while playing.

Citron, at the time, also had a struggling game studio. The idea was to create a space for people to chat with each other while playing. A year after it launched, it had around 25 million users. By 2019, it had 56 million users. The app exploded in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic as a way for people to catch up and talk to their friends who were searching for online groups they could join.

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Sheikh Sakib Javaid, a 25-year-old from Jammu, told The Telegraph how Discord became his social media app of choice. “I’ve been using Discord on and off since 2018, mainly for in-game communication,” Javaid said. “But I became consistent during the Covid lockdown when it became my primary way to stay in touch with friends.”

“I met lovely people on Discord and made a few online friends with whom I’m still in contact,” added Aditya Alexander. The 24-year-old master’s student joined Discord in 2020. He said it became extremely important to him during the lockdown. “It wasn’t essential before, but when we weren’t allowed outside, it became an essential part of my life.”

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How it works

The app supports text, voice, video chats, and screen sharing. Today, it hosts over 200 million monthly users, including many gamers. Its communities are organised around various topics, interests, or gaming groups. But it’s not just gamers who are flocking to Discord. It has become a favourite place to congregate for musicians, students, coders, creators, sports fans, and activists.

Communication on Discord occurs on ‘servers’ – which are like ‘groups’ on Facebook and Instagram. These servers are ‘invite-only spaces for your friends or community — places where you can connect, collaborate, and enjoy meaningful conversations together,’ according to the company. These servers can be divided into theme channels that have features such as drop-in audio chats, text threads, and music. You can also broadcast games and hold watch parties. The servers also have moderators who keep the peace. Each server can host a minimum of 250,000 members.

“It’s not essential but very convenient when talking to a big group,” Tryakshar Chakravarty, 16, told The Telegraph.

How did Robinson use the app?

Robinson, in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Kirk, took to Discord to discuss details of the crime. He was said to be active in a small group of around 20 people on the app. Robinson joked about his resemblance to the individual being sought by the authorities. He said his “doppelganger” was trying to “get me in trouble” and said he needed to “get rid of this manifesto and exact copy rifle”. This came after an acquaintance pointed out the similarities between the image of the suspect released by the authorities and Robinson. When others joked about how they would turn him in for the reward money, Robinson replied, “only if I get a cut.”

Robinson is said to have posted this message on Discord shortly before his arrest: “Hey guys, I have bad news for you all … It was me at UVU yesterday. I’m sorry for all of this.”

Discord said it had suspended his account for violating its “off-platform behaviour policy.” “We strongly condemn violence of any kind, including political violence, and we will continue to coordinate closely with law enforcement,” it said in a statement.

But this isn’t the first time Discord has been embroiled in controversy over the past few years. White nationalists are said to have planned the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville on Discord. In 2022, a gunman, who killed nearly a dozen people at a grocery store in New York’s Buffalo, took to Discord to lay out his plans.

How did Nepal students use the app?

In Nepal, the students turned to Discord after the KP Sharma Oli government blocked two dozen apps, including X, Facebook, and YouTube. In the aftermath of the ban, students turned to Discord to organise the protests and coordinate with each other in real-time. This, despite the best efforts of the government to crack down.

Then, after Oli resigned as prime minister, students used the Discord app to pick their next leader. Several names were considered, including a popular Nepal mayor, a cricketer, and a former chief justice.

Pranaab Dangol, one of the participants in the poll that chose Karki, told The Telegraph, “The stream was initially created because there was a social media ban and a curfew imposed. This was a way for Gen-Z to connect without infiltration because we knew that only Gen-Z knows how to use Discord.”

“Initially, it was for positive debates and discussions,” Dangol added. “But then the idea of a poll emerged. Not as anything official, just a feeler to see whom people would support to bring Nepal back to stability.”

Ultimately, the poll in which thousands voted picked ex-Chief Justice Sushila Karki as the leader of the interim government. Karki, the first woman Chief Justice of Nepal, also made history as the country’s first female Prime Minister. She was sworn in on September 12 and will head the interim government until March 2026, when they are slated to hold elections.

With inputs from agencies