 |
| © Provided by Variety |
By Liz Lanier, Variety
Some extremist groups are using multiplayer games and in-game chat functions as a way to recruit new members, NPR reports.
It’s happening not only in-game, but via platforms like Discord
and Reddit, as well. Some recruitment occurs during game livestreams on
Twitch and YouTube, and even some harassment campaign planning occurs
via these platforms.
Unicorn Riot published chat logs from Discord last year which revealed plans for the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally from white supremacists, according to NPR.
So
why are the groups taking to gaming spaces for new members? According
to Joan Donovan of Data and Society, a research institute, white
supremacists have a history of being innovative with using online spaces
for recruitment. And, Donovan says that first-person shooter games are
one space to find angry young men, according to NPR.
“I
saw how these groups communicated and spread out to other spaces online
with the intent of not telling people specifically that they were white
supremacists, but they were really trying to figure out what young men
were angry about and how they could leverage that to bring about a
broad-based social movement,” Donovan said.
While gaming platforms
like Steam often ban hate speech, it’s a challenge to find the hate
groups with so many users. As a result, many platforms rely on users to
report hateful speech.
Greg Boyd of the law firm Frankfurt Kurnit
pointed out that Microsoft, PlayStation, and Steam host 48 million, 70
million, and 130 million active users, respectively, every month.
“That’s
the populations of Spain, France, and Russia,” Boyd said. “And then
imagine that you’re monitoring all of their text chat…all of their voice
chat, in literally every language, dialect, and subdialect spoken in
the world.”
COMMENTS