Discord ties privileged intent review to 10,000 users and adds yearly reapplication

What this means for you

Some Discord bots need special permission to read what people write. Discord now decides who must ask for it by counting people instead of servers: once a bot can reach 10,000 users, Discord reviews it. Approved bots have to ask again every year. Small bots and simple posting tools are not affected.

The details

• Old threshold: apps in fewer than 100 servers could toggle privileged intents on; apps in 100 or more servers had to apply.
• New threshold: based on the number of users the app can access across all servers. Under 10,000 users, toggle in the Developer Portal; at 10,000 users, apply for access. The gateway docs say the owner gets a system DM or email and a callout in the Developer Portal.
• Annual review: apps granted access in a prior review must reapply once per year in the Developer Portal.
• Growth: apps can keep joining servers while their submission is under review.
• Separate processes: App Verification and privileged intent review are no longer one process.
• Not stated: a deadline for the first annual reapplication.
• Who needs it: per the gateway docs, apps without MESSAGE_CONTENT still see the content of messages they send themselves, so a bot that only posts does not need it for its own posts.

What to do next

• Business owners: Nothing.
• Marketers and agencies: Nothing, unless you run a large community bot that reads messages.
• Developers: Check whether your app really needs a privileged intent (Discord published a "You Might Not Need a Privileged Intent" guide), and track your user count and reapplication date.