[Shiraz Shaikh on Global Network on Extremism & Technology]

"Video games and their associated platforms are vastly becoming hubs of radicalisation, extremism and recruitment by far-right extremist organisations. The development of bespoke games and modifications, often known as MODs, has given extremist organisations the ability to further spread their digital propaganda."

This is both depressing and inevitable: games are incredibly popular and share social media's ability to let people share with each other at scale. Unlike social media, some of the modes of communication directly have violent modes of expression.

Valve's apparent under-investment in trust and safety, and protections against extremism, are also partially inevitable. How do you police voice communication across disparate games? But there's more to it than that:

"In terms of the material and content available on these gaming platforms, there is evidence of far-right propaganda available in huge amounts. The materials include books, videos, documents, manifestos, memes and more. Even on other platforms apart from Steam, interviews of far-right leaders, such as Andrew Anglin, are available for users."

This seems easier to police, and should be. That this material is available says a lot about Valve's priorities.

#Technology

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