howie.lol
Effective Oct. 13, 2026
The short version: Howie checks messages for scams and keeps evidence of suspicious messages for review, including when moderation is disabled. We don't sell data, and we don't use your messages to train AI.
What Howie looks at
To spot scams, Howie reads new messages in the channels it has access to, including text and image attachments. It compares downloaded images against known scam images and reads image text when other checks warrant it. Text recognition runs on our own servers. Downloaded images and recognition results can be cached briefly to avoid repeating work.
Messages below the detection threshold are not saved as detection records. Suspicious messages can be saved for review even when Howie takes no moderation action.
What Howie keeps
- Detection evidence. We retain server, channel, message and user IDs, normalized message text, matching signals, image fingerprints and downloaded image attachments associated with suspicious messages. Queued text recognition can also retain message context and image bytes. This evidence supports review and detection improvements.
- Moderation reports. When reporting is enabled, Howie posts a report to the channel your server chose. Reports include the account's username and user ID, the channel, the message ID, the time, the scam type, the score and what Howie did. They never include message text, images, image fingerprints or matching signals. Your server's admins control reports stored in Discord. Observe mode currently saves detection outcomes without posting reports.
- Image and recognition retention. Review-image files are eligible for removal after 30 days without a qualifying recent detection; confirmed or high-confidence evidence can be retained longer. Completed or expired recognition jobs release their queued image bytes. Cached recognition results expire after 30 days; expired entries are removed during subsequent processing. Detection records do not yet have an automatic deletion deadline.
- Appeals. When Howie bans, kicks or times out an account, it may send that account one direct message with a link to the appeal page, and records whether it arrived. Howie also records each ban, kick or timeout it applies and whether it was later undone. If you sign in to the appeal page with Discord, Howie receives only your account ID and username from Discord, keeps them in a sign-in cookie for up to an hour, and revokes its access to your Discord account straight away. Requests you make there are deleted from Cloudflare after a day; Howie keeps a record of each undo and rejoin link it gave. These appeal records, including whether each direct message arrived, do not have an automatic deletion deadline.
- Sign-ins. When you sign in to the appeal page, or add Howie to a server through howie.lol, we record your Discord account ID and username, the server for an invite, your IP address, and what IPinfo reports about that address, such as its approximate location and network. These records do not have an automatic deletion deadline.
- System logs and backups. Our servers log detection and processing outcomes, including server, user and message IDs. Application logs rotate by size. Encrypted database backups can contain retained evidence and recognition inputs; backup copies do not yet have an automatic deletion deadline.
What Howie never collects
Howie does not request passwords, email addresses or payment information, and it does not read direct messages or voice chat. Information included in a suspicious server message may appear in its retained evidence.
How we use information
Only to detect and remove scams, report what Howie did, let people undo Howie's actions on their own accounts and keep it running. We do not sell or rent information, show ads or use your messages to train AI models.
Who else is involved
Howie runs on Discord, so Discord's Privacy Policy also applies. Our hosting and storage providers include OVHcloud, Backblaze and Cloudflare. The appeal page uses Cloudflare Turnstile to check that a person, not a script, is asking for an undo. IPinfo looks up the IP address of each sign-in. Encrypted backups may be stored separately from the runtime server. We use these services to operate Howie, and may disclose information when the law requires it.
Your choices
- Server admins can limit which channels Howie sees, or remove Howie at any time. Removing it stops all processing for that server.
- If Howie acted on your account by mistake, you can undo it on the appeal page, or contact the server's moderators. They can reverse the action too.
- To ask what we have about you, or to ask us to delete it, email ceo [at] howie [dot] lol.
Children
Discord requires users to be at least 13, or older where local law requires. Howie is not meant for anyone below Discord's minimum age, and we don't knowingly collect their information.
Changes
If we change this policy, we'll update the effective date above. Big changes will also be announced where we normally post Howie updates.
Contact
Privacy questions? Email ceo [at] howie [dot] lol.