Discord is competing with Skype indirectly, users communicating via voice chat in a private Discord server may have previously used Skype and represent a loss of users for Skype, but at the same time Discord and Skype are targeting their customers differently enough that I don’t see them as “fishing in the same stream” to use an analogy.
Facebook Messenger is competing with Discord because it’s always there, if you have Facebook you have Facebook Messenger, “why use something else?” … Facebook are trying to be good enough to keep users active in their apps instead of any one else’s. Discord are trying to be better at group chat use cases but I don’t see the same focus on direct message style chat between individuals in Discord as I see when watching people use Facebook Messenger.
If you have a Microsoft account you have OneDrive, if you have a Gmail account then you have a YouTube channel, if you have an Apple ID then you have iMessage. This is not a new (nor novel, nor frankly illegal) tactic by big tech, and I honestly doubt the FTC gives a shit. Our current government benefits greatly from the centralization of these services, so disrupting that would be against private (and to a degree, public) interest.
If that sounds like a bad analogy, imagine how the government would treat a single private company that owned more than 70% of the private land in the country. “It’s our gland we should be able to do what we want…” has to break down at a certain point, the alternative is a slow relentless slide into crypto-capitalist (crypto like cryptozoology not cryptocurrency) dystopian oppression.
Is Discord competing with Skype?
What about Facebook Messenger?
Most of my friend group uses Discord exclusively, after trying all the aforementioned options. We don't feel tied to Facebook whatsoever.