Discord wins because it allows you, the member of an existing community to set up a new subset of that community over which you have power. For a while I thought discord was paying people to create communities for everything but then I realized, they don't need to; the joy of being in charge is enough.
Are you really in charge though? Discord has deleted servers over political speech. It sounds nice and agreeable and all when you're calling them out for being "Nazis", but the fact is that there's no due process or chance of a fair appeal if you're arbitrarily labelled as one of these "Nazis". You have the illusion of being in charge but are ultimately a feudal serf.
Anyone actively and freely communicating on an actual independent platform is instead seen as a liability to the public because there's no implied threat or leverage over their community.
Actual control is irrelevant; it's the feeling of control and the ability to excercise control on others that is the bribe. That said, I think that most people will never run afowl of the above rules so it's not like they'd notice.
