The data scraping service is selling data on what it claims are 600 million Discord users. A report from 404 Media details Spy Pet is an online service that collects, stores and sells data from social platforms. But fear not: It offers its services to completely legitimate paying customers, such as law enforcement agencies, AI model trainers, or the average person wondering “what their friends are up to.” Why ask them when you can just buy and download a copy of their Discord activity?
For up to $5 in cryptocurrency, Spy Pet lets you get information about specific users, such as which servers they participate in, what messages they send, and when they join or leave voice channels. It claims to have information on 600 million users across 14,000 Discord servers and three billion messages.
As for what inspired Spy Pet, its creator suggested it was a classic case of doing what one enjoys and pushing personal boundaries. “I like to scratch, archive and challenge myself,” said the creator. 404 Media. “Discord is basically the holy grail of shards because Discord tries to do absolutely anything to fight shard.”
Some people run 5Ks, set a weight loss goal, or pack acid. Others are starting a social scraping service that sells data to the feds, AI companies and creepy oldies. To each his own!
404 Media the database allows you to search for specific users. For each search result, a page shows the servers the user is connected to (at least among those Spy Pet monitors), their connected accounts, a table showing their recent messages (including server name, timestamps, and the message itself), and their voice. channel entry and exit times. Paying customers can conveniently export their predator or “friend” chats to a CSV file.
Discord said he was researching Spy Pet and weighing his options. “Discord is committed to protecting the privacy and data of our users,” a company spokesperson emailed Engadget. “We are currently investigating this matter. If we determine that a violation of our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines has occurred, we will take appropriate steps to enforce our policies. As this investigation is ongoing, we cannot comment further.”
