Discord Is Testing A YouTube Integration Feature

Discord has started to test Watch Together, a collaboration between YouTube and the popular chat service that will allow users to watch YouTube videos together, The Verge reports. The move comes after legal action from Google shut down a number of Discord's most popular user-created bots, which were widely used for the same purpose.

The new feature has appeared in a small number of Discord servers today, looking a lot like Discord's regular screen sharing feature but with more specific YouTube integrations. Call hosts can queue up a number of YouTube videos by searching or pasting a link to the original video, and can allow or disallow other users in the call to add their own videos.

The biggest difference between unofficial bots like Rythm and Groovy Discord, which had many of the same functions, is that the official YouTube integration allows YouTube to play ads during the Discord watch party. "You may also see ads during YouTube videos," a pop-up warns when users first access the tool. The pop-up also says that Watch Together was "built by Discord, but it's powered by YouTube."

The Verge reports that the new tool has started to roll out to friends and family servers, while bigger servers will see Watch Together added in the next few weeks. For now, you can test out the tool in Discord's Game Labs server if you want to see how it works.