Study finds radical nutjobs targeting gamers via Discord, Twitch, Steam
- Reference: 1754314988
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/08/04/gaming_platforms_radical_recruitment/
- Source link:
"These gaming-adjacent platforms offer extremists direct access to large, often young and impressionable audiences and they have become a key tool for extremist recruitment," said co-author Dr William Allchorn, a senior research fellow at the university.
"Social media platforms have attracted most of the attention of lawmakers and regulators over the last decade, but these platforms have largely flown under the radar, while at the same time becoming digital playgrounds for extremists to exploit. The nature of radicalization and the dissemination of extremist content is not confined to any single platform and our research identified a widespread lack of effective detection and reporting tools."
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Allchorn, along with Dr Elisa Orofino, co-author and colleague at Anglia Ruskin's International Policing and Public Protection Research Institute (IPPPRI), found that far-right extremism – including content that promotes white supremacy, neo-Nazism, antisemitism, misogyny, racism, homophobia, and conspiracy theories including but not limited to QAnon – was the most common, with Islamist extremism and what the researchers call "extremist-adjacent material," including the glorification of school shootings, less common but still notable.
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Unsurprisingly, these materials were usually found alongside "hyper-masculine gaming titles" – first-person shooters in particular. Extremists target those interested in these games, the researchers found, then begin to "funnel" them to less-regulated platforms.
"That's where you have matchmaking," an interviewee in the study said about gaming-adjacent social platforms. "It's where you can build quick rapport with people. But that's the stuff that very quickly moves to adjacent platforms, where there's sort of less monitoring."
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It's not a new problem, but little progress is being made. A [5]2023 report penned by researchers from the Psychological Defence Research Institute at Lund University, supported by the Swedish Psychological Defence Agency, identified six key ways extremists were making use of games and related technology: to reframe reality, including the gamification of real-life situations; the projection of authority, including data harvesting; psychographic targeting using said harvested data; hacking and phishing to gain access to third-party systems; social propaganda through in-game and game-adjacent social features; and interactive propaganda, in which game-related social communities are used to radicalize and mobilize players for the extremists' own ends.
[6]xAI's Grok lurches into right-wing insanity, offers tips on assaulting man
[7]War Games: MoD asks soldiers with 1337 skillz to compete in esports
[8]UK Online Safety Act 'not up to scratch' on misinformation, warn MPs
[9]Does UK's Online Safety Act cover misinformation? Well, that depends
"Compared with social media, the gaming domain has insufficient policies and mechanisms to cope with information influence campaigns," said co-author Jesper Falkheimer, foreshadowing the same conclusion reached by Allchorn and Orofino. "Nor are there sufficient avenues for researchers, journalists, and the industry itself to better understand the degree to which gaming platforms are currently being exploited. In other words, not only do we not know how serious the situation is, we also lack the means to find out."
Allchorn concluded of potential ways to address the issue: "Many users don't know how to report extremist content, and even when they do, they often feel their concerns aren't taken seriously.
"Strengthening moderation systems, both AI and human, is essential, as is updating platform policies to address content that is harmful but technically lawful. Decisive action works and platforms can be doing more to help curb the spread of extremism."
The full study is available under open-access terms in the journal [10]Frontiers in Psychology .
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Neither Discord, Valve, nor Twitch responded to requests for comment. ®
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[5] https://mpf.se/psychological-defence-agency/publications/archive/2023-12-01-malign-foreign-interference-and-information-influence-on-video-game-platforms-understanding-the-adversarial-playbook
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/14/musk_opinion_piece/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/29/mod_asks_soldiers_with_1337/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/11/online_safety_act_misinfo/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/30/does_online_safety_act_cover/
[10] https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1537460/full
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[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Yes, but being approached by a recruiter for an extremist organisation is going to put you over the edge. The research describes the challenges with moderating games, in particular that their less "politically correct" nature means it's more difficult to moderate. For example, in many games sending death threats (or even planning the extermination of a particular group) is perfectly acceptable in the context of the game, but it would be a bit of an issue if those messages are not about the game. It never states that the content of video games should change, just that there needs to be a better way to protect people who are easily influenced from these recruiters.
They don't rope people in because they are racist to begin with. They rope in people with a sense of community, a place where they belong, and then slowly but surely get them hooked on extremist propaganda.
Funnily enough, #GamerGate was a movement with very adjacent views to yours (it was against political correctness and diversity in games), and that movement was used by white supremacists very effectively as a recruiting tool.
[1] Good read about the points i just made.
[1] https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/41372
Pearls clutched
At least traditional media never did this. Now excuse me I have to go and watch TV where John Wayne shows me how I can be a true patriotic hero if I kill enough gooks.
Then Tom Cruise will show me how even a short-arse gay volleyball player can defeat the evil Soviets Iraqis Afghans Russians definitely not the Chinese Canadians if we spend enough on military tech.
Re: Pearls clutched
Add to that the so-called 'Holy' Bible. The first part glorifies murder, genocide, torture, instills a sense of superiority, and all in the name of a supposed magic sky being. Praise be.
Re: Pearls clutched
That's only in the original. In the sequel they make the unstoppable killing machine G*d into the good guy and he becomes some sort of hippy hero.
But it did get much better international box office.
Re: Pearls clutched
Sounds like a Call of Duty...
Interesting read, i haven't been able to fully digest it, but i'll put it in my reading list for later.
Another interesting read (snowballed into it from the main article) is [1] Why White Supremacist Recruiters Target Gamers and How to Stop Them . It goes into the tactics used by recruiters and also why gamers might be more vulnerable.
It basically comes down to a combination of there being an intersection of traits between being a gamer (especially in the early days), and being a target for extremist ideology. They also hijack meme culture as propaganda, which also appeals to many gamers. The latest research shows how they reel them in to adjacent platforms to further influence them.
[1] https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/41372
Why are we allowing video games to influence our children into authoritarian ideologies?
Schools should've teaching children how to properly behave in society. Now all stand to swear allegiance to the flag and the great leader and then we will all chant the 10 principles of good thought displayed on the wall of every classroom
International Policing and Public Protection Research Institute (IPPPRI)
Have to wonder whether Anglia Ruskin was where A Very Peculiar Practice was set ?
The institute's name wouldn't look out of place on emblazoned on the side of an improbable space craft in some dodgy space opera. Blake's Seven ?
So people who are addicted to playing video games that consist almost exclusively of the player killing other living creatures including fellow human beings, are attracted to ideologies that glorify the same ? No shit ...
Re: International Policing and Public Protection Research Institute (IPPPRI)
While we grew up learning to defend the earth from any aliens that could only descend one row at a time
Has there been a successful alien invasion ? No, well thank a gen-x er
"Compared with social media, the gaming domain has insufficient policies and mechanisms to cope with information influence campaigns,"
If you are pre-disposed to being a racially biased moron, a video game isn't the thing that will put you over the edge. Keep your political correctness out off my games.