| Session Name: | Landscape of Extremist Behavior in Games |
| Speaker(s): | Rachel Kowert, Alex Newhouse |
| Company Name(s): | Take This, Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism |
| Track / Format: | Advocacy |
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| Overview: | Drawing from real time data, this session will discuss the existence of extremist networks within games platforms. The data analysis (from publicly available Steam & Roblox APIs, and private Java Minecraft servers) reveals a range of extremist actors active on the platform--including known members of designated organizations--and various identity and community mechanisms actively at work, including recruitment and signaling behaviors. Network visualizations will be provided to illustrate the breadth and scope of the active networks, and their existence across a range of platforms. This talk will also highlight that this is not a single platform or game issue and lead to a discussion about how the industry has contributed to its perpetuation by not publicly acknowledging the problem, and why cross-platform and cross-developer collaboration is essential to be more proactive in addressing the presence of bad actors within their communities. |
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