RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A Virginia mother is sounding the alarm after she says her teenage daughter was targeted on the social media platform Discord.
“They almost killed my daughter,” said Abby’s mother, who asked to be referred to by only her first name, Leslie.
Leslie said that, when Abby was 14, she joined nearly 100 group chats on Discord, including ones that promoted anorexia and child sexual abuse material.
“Then it went to, ‘Go kill yourself, these are all the ways you can do it,’” Leslie told 8News.
Leslie says although she took away her daughter’s phone and monitored her social media usage, Abby was still communicating with dangerous groups using her school computer.
“They took her away from the family,” said Leslie. “It was like she was brainwashed to believe that her family were her enemies and these online chat groups were her friends.”
Leslie said that, within months, Abby attempted suicide.
‘At 4 a.m., EMTs and police officers came into my bedroom and told me my daughter had overdosed,” Leslie said. “I thought I was in a nightmare, I didn’t understand.”