Discord's dark side · Part 2 of 5
764 and the coercion networks
A set of loosely connected online groups uses Discord and other apps to coerce children into hurting themselves and others, and shares the results for status. The FBI has an investigation open in every one of its field offices. This part explains what the groups are and how to recognise a child caught up in one.
In plain terms
"764" is the best-known name for a network of online groups whose members compete to control and humiliate vulnerable children. They befriend a child, obtain something compromising, and then use it to force the child to do worse things on camera. The recordings are traded within the group as trophies.
The motive is not money. That is what makes these groups different from ordinary sextortion, and why paying or complying never ends it.
Key facts
- In May 2025 the FBI said it had more than 250 investigations open into 764 and related networks, with every one of its 55 field offices handling at least one.
- Victims are typically aged 10 to 17. The FBI has seen victims as young as nine.
- The network began in 2021 on Discord. Its founder, then 15, was later sentenced to 80 years in prison in Texas.
- Discord says it removed more than 34,000 accounts linked to the network after a newspaper investigation in 2024.
- In August 2026 Brazil ordered Discord to switch off livestreaming and video in the country after the death of a 13-year-old girl.
How solid is this?
The labels are explained on the Start here page.
| Claim | Status | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| The networks coerce minors into self-harm, sexual acts and violence, and circulate the footage | Documented | FBI public service announcement, March 2025 |
| More than 250 FBI investigations, in all 55 field offices | Documented | An FBI assistant director, quoted by ABC News, May 2025 |
| The network's origin, structure and splinter groups | Documented | Wikipedia's summary of court records and reporting. Not traced to the originals |
| Discord removed more than 34,000 linked accounts | Documented | Discord's statement, via Wikipedia |
| Banned members return on new accounts within a day | Documented | Reported by Wikipedia from press investigations. Not traced |
| Brazil suspended Discord video after a child's death | Documented | Brazil's state news agency and Discord's own support page |
| Who coerced the Brazilian victim, and how | Alleged | Investigators' account as reported. No court finding yet |
What these groups are
The FBI describes them as violent online networks that "use threats, blackmail, and manipulation to coerce or extort victims into producing, sharing, or live-streaming acts of self-harm, animal cruelty, sexually explicit acts, and/or suicide". The footage is then passed around the network and used to tighten control over the victim.1
764 is one name among many. According to Wikipedia's summary of the court record, it was founded in 2021 by a 15-year-old in Stephenville, Texas, who took the name from the first digits of his postcode. He had learned the methods in an earlier Discord server and was arrested later that year. In May 2023 he was sentenced to 80 years in prison.3
The network did not end with him. It has split into many groups with their own names, and these in turn sit inside a wider scene that members call "the com", short for community, which also includes hackers and fraudsters. Researchers estimated in 2024 that hundreds of people were directly involved in exploitation and thousands in related crime.3
Some groups borrow neo-Nazi and occult imagery. Investigators quoted in the record describe sadism and a hatred of people in general as the real drivers, with the symbols used for shock.3 The FBI assistant director leading the response called it "one of the most disturbing things we're seeing".2
Who is targeted, and who does it
Members look for children who are already struggling. The record describes a deliberate focus on those with depression, eating disorders or thoughts of suicide, and on children who are isolated because of their sexuality, gender identity or background.3 They are found in the places such children go for support: mental-health communities, fan servers, and games.
Many perpetrators are themselves teenagers. Some began as victims and were pushed to recruit others as the price of being left alone. This matters for anyone responding: a child may be both harmed and implicated, and fear of being in trouble is one of the things that keeps them silent.
The pattern
The sequence is consistent enough to describe in four stages.
- Friendship. Contact begins on a game or public server. The member presents as a peer, sympathetic and attentive, sometimes as a romantic interest. Small gifts of in-game currency or items are common.1
- The move. The conversation shifts to private messages or a small server, often on Discord or Telegram.3
- Leverage. The member obtains something the child would not want shared: an image, a secret, a home address. Threats to publish it, to send it to family, or to make a false emergency call to the child's home follow.1
- Escalation. Each demand is worse than the last, and each act of compliance becomes new leverage. Demands are often made live, in front of an audience of other members.2
The thing a child or parent most needs to know is that compliance does not buy safety. The only thing that ends it is telling an adult and cutting contact.
Discord's role
These networks grew up on Discord and still use it, alongside Telegram and games such as Roblox and Minecraft.3 The features that make Discord good for friends, including private servers, voice channels and live video to a small audience, are the ones the groups rely on.
After a joint investigation by The Washington Post, Wired, Der Spiegel and Recorder in March 2024, Discord said it had removed more than 34,000 accounts tied to the network.4 The company has said it relies mainly on user reports and bans accounts when it learns of illegal activity. The reporting summarised by Wikipedia found that banned members were typically back on new accounts within a day.3 In August 2024 a US senator wrote to the company about what he called its failure to safeguard minors.3
What governments have done
- Sep 2023The FBI issues its first public warning about 764.3
- 6 Mar 2025The FBI publishes a fuller warning of a "sharp increase" in activity, with a list of signs for parents.1
- May 2025The FBI says it has more than 250 investigations open across all 55 field offices and suspects thousands of victims worldwide.2
- Dec 2025Canada and New Zealand formally designate 764 a terrorist entity.3
- Aug 2026A Tennessee man is sentenced to 77 years. Prosecutors said he had groomed more than 2,600 children and that two victims had died by suicide.3
Sentences have also been handed down in the United Kingdom, Romania and New Zealand.3
Brazil switches off video
On 22 July 2026 a 13-year-old girl in Brazil died during a live video broadcast. Investigators said other users had coerced her. On 12 August Brazil's data protection authority ordered Discord to suspend livestreaming and video sharing in the country, citing shortcomings in protecting children. Discord complied on 17 August, keeping text and voice available.56
Discord called the death "a devastating case" resulting from a "coordinated campaign of extreme violence" across several platforms, and said it was in talks with the authority about restoring video.5 As far as this site could establish, it is the first time a government has made Discord remove a core feature rather than block the whole service.
Warning signs
This list is the FBI's, lightly reworded.1 Any one sign has ordinary explanations. Several together, especially with a new online friend the child seems devoted to or afraid of, call for a calm conversation.
- Sudden changes in mood, sleep, eating or appearance; withdrawal from friends and activities.
- A new online "friend" the child is infatuated with or frightened of.
- Anonymous gifts: deliveries, game currency or virtual items.
- Cuts, burns, bruises or bite marks, especially in patterns, or words and symbols marked on the skin.
- Long sleeves and trousers in hot weather.
- Talk of death, of not being wanted, or admiration for mass attacks.
- Unexplained harm to a family pet, or a pet that suddenly avoids the child.
- A false emergency call that brings police to the home.
What to do
- If there is immediate danger, call emergency services.
- Stay calm with the child. They have been told repeatedly that they will be blamed. The first thing they need to hear is that they are not in trouble with you.
- Do not comply and do not pay. Nothing given to these groups ends the demands.
- Do not delete anything. Keep the messages, usernames, server names and any payment or gift records. Take screenshots before blocking.
- Report to the police, and say the name 764 or "the com" if you have seen it: specialist units exist for this. In the United States the FBI asks for reports through its Internet Crime Complaint Center, a field office, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.1
- Get medical and mental-health help. The FBI advises consulting a doctor or mental-health professional for the behaviours listed above, whatever their cause.1
For professionals
The professional briefing covers evidence and reporting in general. Points specific to these networks:
- Self-harm with an audience is the distinguishing feature. Ask whether anyone asked the child to do it, watched, or has pictures.
- Marks on the skin may be evidence. Names or symbols cut or written on the body are a known demand. Record them sensitively, in line with your safeguarding procedure.
- Treat the child as a victim first, including where they have been made to recruit or harm others. That question is for investigators, later.
- Expect more than one platform. Contact usually starts on a game and continues on Discord or Telegram. Ask about all of them.
- Swatting is part of the pattern. A hoax emergency call to a family home may be retaliation against a child who stopped complying.
What is still unknown
- How many victims there are. The FBI's "thousands" is an estimate.
- How many members are active, and how many are themselves children.
- Whether Brazil's order will be lifted, and on what conditions.
- Whether account bans achieve anything while new accounts are free and instant.
Glossary
- 764
- The best-known of the coercion networks, named after the first digits of its founder's Texas postcode. Often used as shorthand for all of them.
- Cutsign
- A member's name or symbol that a victim is made to cut or write on their own body and photograph.
- Doxxing
- Publishing someone's real name, address or other private details in order to threaten them.
- Sextortion
- Blackmail using a sexual image of the victim. Usually for money; in these networks, for control.
- Swatting
- Making a false emergency call so that armed police are sent to someone's home.
- The com
- Short for "the community": the wider online scene of hackers, fraudsters and coercion groups that 764 belongs to.
Sources
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, "Violent Online Networks Target Vulnerable and Underage Populations Across the United States and Around the Globe", public service announcement, 6 March 2025. ic3.gov
- ABC News, "FBI has opened 250 investigations tied to violent online network '764' that preys on teens, top official says", 6 May 2025. goodmorningamerica.com
- Wikipedia, "764 (organization)". en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Discord". en.wikipedia.org
- Agência Brasil, "Discord suspends livestreams to comply with Brazil's requirements", August 2026. agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br
- Discord support, "Why video features are currently unavailable in Brazil". support.discord.com