What is a Discord self-bot?
A self-bot is a Discord user account (not a real bot) driven automatically by a script that uses the API in its place. It's forbidden by Discord's Terms of Service.
Self-bot or regular bot: what's the difference?
An official bot is registered with Discord, added through an authorization, displays an "APP" badge, and only has the permissions you grant it. A self-bot, on the other hand, hijacks a normal human account to act on its own.
| Official bot | Self-bot | |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | Registered application | Hijacked user account |
| Visibility | Visible "APP" badge | Indistinguishable from a real member |
| Status | Allowed | Forbidden by Discord |
What are self-bots used for?
Used maliciously, self-bots mainly serve to act en masse while posing as real users:
- Inflating raids: hundreds of self-bots join a server to spam it simultaneously.
- Sending scams and advertising via direct message at scale.
- Scraping a server's member list to target them elsewhere.
Why it's forbidden and risky
Automating a user account violates Discord's Terms of Service and risks the account being banned. For a server, the real danger lies elsewhere: a self-bot is hard to tell apart from a normal member, which lets it slip under the radar of standard moderation.
How to protect your server from self-bots?
Frequently asked questions
Is a self-bot legal?
No. Automating a user account violates Discord's Terms of Service and risks a permanent ban of the account.
How do you recognize a self-bot?
It has no "APP" badge and behaves abnormally (very fast messages, instant reactions, constant presence). To the naked eye it's hard: hence the value of a captcha and anti-spam.
Can a self-bot raid my server?
Yes. Automated raids often rely on dozens or hundreds of self-bots that join and spam at the same time.
Does a captcha block self-bots?
It blocks the vast majority of self-bot farms at the entrance, since they can't solve the verification automatically.