United States of America: United States District Court for the District of New Jersey granted New Jersey Attorney General's motion to remand lawsuit against Discord to state court

On 22 April 2026, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey granted the New Jersey Attorney General's motion to remand the consumer protection action against Discord Inc to the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Essex County. The case was originally filed on 17 April 2025 by the State Attorney General and the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, alleging that Discord engaged in unconscionable, abusive, and deceptive commercial practices in violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. The complaint further alleged that Discord collected personal information from children under 13 without obtaining verifiable parental consent as required by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), despite having actual knowledge that such children used the Discord platform. Discord removed the action to federal court on 2 May 2025, arguing that the COPPA-based count raised a substantial federal question sufficient to confer federal jurisdiction under the 4-part Grable test. The District Court rejected this argument on 2 grounds. Firstly, the District Court found that the COPPA issue was not sufficiently substantial to the federal system as a whole, as its resolution would be fact-specific and binding only on the parties. Secondly, the District Court found that exercising federal jurisdiction would disrupt the federal-state balance Congress intended for COPPA, given that the New Jersey Attorney General's claim is at its core a state-law NJCFA claim that borrows COPPA as a standard rather than enforcing COPPA directly. The District Court also denied the New Jersey Attorney General's request for attorney's fees, finding that Discord had an objectively reasonable basis for seeking removal. The case will now proceed in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Essex County.