The article states that it is opt-out and that there would be a toggleable setting to turn it off, but if they are going this way it does not bode well.

For anyone like me looking for an application with the same aesthetic feel and general functionality as discord (if Matrix chat does not suit you), then take a look at revolt chat https://github.com/revoltchat.

It’s basically an open source discord clone that looks almost identical, but lacks some of the more advanced features of discord in its current state.

Furthermore if you have a discord community and are worried about the future like myself, note that you can get discord/revolt bots which will clone content from your discord into your revolt. If you are worried about discords future, it may be wise to implement this now as an alternative backup.