Former Netflix Litigator Joins Chat App Discord After Leaks Row

Discord Inc., an online chat and social media platform that has encountered controversy as it’s grown in popularity, has recruited veteran technology industry lawyer Hilary Ware for a key role in its legal group.

Her move comes as Discord confirmed Thursday it would shed 17% of its workforce, the latest in a series of mass job cuts to hit the technology industry.

Ware, most recently an associate general counsel at Netflix Inc., joined the streaming media company in 2011 after spending more than a half-dozen years at Google. As of this month she has global responsibility for litigation, regulatory compliance, and privacy and data security at Discord.

At Netflix, Ware had a similar sweeping legal portfolio, overseeing litigation and having a hand in other areas such as regulatory affairs, data security, and labor and employment. She didn’t respond to a request for comment about her new job as a deputy general counsel at Discord, which Ware disclosed this week via LinkedIn. Discord, based in San Francisco, also confirmed her hire.

The privately held company, which reportedly considered a direct listing two years ago after rejecting a $12 billion takeover bid by Microsoft Corp., saw its business boom during the pandemic. Discord was valued at $15 billion in 2021, but its increased profile has come with other complications.

Discord made headlines last year over leaked US government documents about the war in Ukraine and other national security affairs that were found on the company’s platform and elsewhere in the social media space. In 2022, Discord hired its first federal lobbyists after a private company server was used by someone to post their plans for a mass shooting that later killed 10 people.

Monument Advocacy, a public policy and affairs firm tapped by Discord to represent its interests at the federal level, received $180,000 through the first three quarters of 2023 to advise the company on matters related to privacy and content moderation, according to public filings. Those same issues have often bedeviled Discord’s competitors in the social media sector.

Discord’s co-founder and chief executive officer Jason Citron said in an interview at the Bloomberg Technology Summit last year that the company was working with government officials on the leaks investigation and is committed to policing harmful content. Discord has used artificial intelligence to assist with content moderation and also branched out into other business lines, such as live events.

Clint Smith, another veteran Big Tech lawyer, was hired by Discord as its first legal chief in 2020. At the company, founded in 2015, Smith oversees its legal, policy, corporate security, and trust and safety teams. Ware joins a Discord law department that’s made other additions in the past year.

Ware, no stranger to litigation battles during her time at Netflix, was one of a few key deputies to the company’s longtime top lawyer David Hyman. She left Netflix in October, according to her LinkedIn profile. That same month Netflix announced a restructuring of its business affairs and legal team that saw four senior lawyers leave the Los Gatos, Calif.-based company.

Netflix declined to discuss Ware’s departure.