> “The amount of the fine was decided regarding the breaches identified, the number of people concerned, but also taking into account the efforts made by the company throughout the procedure to reach compliance and the fact that its business model is not based on the exploitation of personal data,” the regulator said.
> the fact that its business model is not based on the exploitation of personal data
Is it? I suppose you can take their turning down of Microsoft as a token of good faith, but it's also possible that they just think they can cash out for more in the future. If that's the case, then accumulating a massive user dataset is very much the business model, because the business model is to eventually sell the company for as much as possible.
Not that I trust discord for sensitive communications but I'm personally quite happy to pay $ for my animated emojis and increased upload limit instead of them monetizing my info.
> its business model is not based on the exploitation of personal data,
That's strange, given the software's functionality includes showing friends and people in servers you're in what games you're playing, for how long, and even what game mode and so on. There's zero chance they're not monetizing that in some fashion. Almost certainly in aggregate, but I'd be shocked if they aren't doing non-aggregate data sharing behind some very tightly closed doors.
Also, just an fyi that tencent has heavily invested in Discord - though the exact amount is unknown.
