Gaming companies are sharing gamers’ user information with the government to root out so-called domestic violent extremists.

Gaming companies are coordinating with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to root out so-called domestic violent extremist content, according to a new government report. Noting that mechanisms have been established with social media companies to police extremism, the report recommends that the national security agencies establish new and similar processes with the vast gaming industry.

The exact nature of the cooperation between federal agencies and video game companies, which has not been previously reported, is detailed in a new Government Accountability Office report. The report draws on interviews conducted with five gaming and social media companies including Roblox, an online gaming platform; Discord, a social media app commonly used by gamers; Reddit; as well as a game publisher and social media company that asked the GAO to remain anonymous.

The Anti-Defamation League has testified to Congress multiple times about extremists’ use of gaming platforms. In 2019, ADL’s then-senior vice president of international affairs, Sharon Nazarian, was asked by Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., if gaming platforms “are monitored” and if there’s “a way AI can be employed to identify those sorts of conversations.”

  • TimLovesTech (AuDHD)(he/him)@badatbeing.socialEnglish
    1403·
    9 months ago

    So this isn’t about actual gamers, this about bad actors looking for chuds to recruit through games, which is not a new concept. It used to be chat rooms, and then forums, then social media, now games (as many have social features).

    I mean the US military, among others, have been using gaming to recruit people already.

    • Rezbit@lemmy.worldEnglish
      491·
      9 months ago

      Officially, the military does not recruit anyone under age 17. In this case, “recruit” means the formal process of signing a legally binding agreement to enlist. The military does, however, advertise to and interact directly with minors for the purposes of military recruitment.

      Grooming. Non-sexual grooming. Just wonderful.

      • AussiemandeusEnglish
        16·
        9 months ago

        I was in the Australian airforce cadets from 12 until 18 at which point i went to join the airforce but got am apprenticeship at the same time that paid more.

        Many of my friends enlisted though.

        Its certainly grooming, though

      • Altima NEO@lemmy.zipEnglish
        11·
        9 months ago

        I mean they show up to schools to tell kids about military careers and jrotc and stuff.

      • Drusas@kbin.social
        5·
        9 months ago

        Are they pretending the JROTC doesn’t exist? The US military absolutely targets minors under the age of seventeen for recruitment.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
          2·
          9 months ago

          I think that’s the point, not ignoring it. They don’t have them literally sign up, but they do everything they legally can to capture them.

      • masquenox@lemmy.worldEnglish
        72·
        9 months ago

        The recruitment starts the minute they pressure kids into worshipping a piece of colored fabric.

    • LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.worldEnglish
      28·
      9 months ago

      Someone tried recruiting my sister and a couple of her Special Olympics teammates into the Marines in Rec Room. I got on my sister’s mic and told the dude to fuck off and to stop preying on obviously vulnerable people. He was so pushy with his recruitment, that he was making my sister uncomfortable. She asked him to stop and he didn’t. After telling the dude off, I advised my sister and her teammates to try a different game for a bit. It was disgusting to see this dude try to get people with intellectual disabilities to literally throw their lives away for a country that’s constantly fucking them over.

    • masquenox@lemmy.worldEnglish
      41·
      9 months ago

      I mean the US military, among others, have been using gaming to recruit people already.

      Somehow I don’t think that’s the kind of extremism they’ll be clamping down on…

  • deegeese@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    31·
    9 months ago

    If terrorists chat on Facebook, of course they’re on Roblox and every other site too.

    Would be foolish not to monitor because it’s “only a game”.

  • Fizz@lemmy.nzEnglish
    1935·
    9 months ago

    Its times like this I wish I used matrix instead of discord. Even though my friends and I are not extremists you can definitely make us look like extremists if you took jokes out of context.

      • Fizz@lemmy.nzEnglish
        1138·
        9 months ago

        There are plenty of jokes that look bad if you strip away the intention and context. They aren’t bad or offensive jokes they just seem offensive if you take them out of context and present them in a different way.

        For example this shane gills joke looks bad “That’s the thing about these countries, England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia. No Black people.” but when you add the next part it makes it funny.

        “And I know what you’re thinking. No, you need Black people to keep the whites in check. The last thing you want is a whole island of whites that think they’re the coolest people on earth. A disaster. That’s how you end up with Conor McGregors walking around.The foreign whites are out of control.”

          • Fizz@lemmy.nzEnglish
            618·
            9 months ago

            The clip of him saying it funnier but its not everyones cup of tea

          • Fizz@lemmy.nzEnglish
            418·
            9 months ago

            How would you know you have never heard a joke from me.

            • mister_monster@monero.townEnglish
              112·
              9 months ago

              Humorless people telling you to joke within the confines of their neurotic sensibilities. Best ignore them and carry on.

        • Carighan Maconar@lemmy.worldEnglish
          86·
          9 months ago

          There are plenty of jokes that look bad if you strip away the intention and context. They aren’t bad or offensive jokes they just seem offensive if you take them out of context and present them in a different way.

          Yes, and as humans we are quite able to understand that we should not immediately suspect anybody who says something without any context, assuming in the situation we know we are lacking the content.

          Tell me, what makes you look more suspect to a federal agency:

          • The odd (frankly pretty bad, but then it’s by Shane Gills so that was expected) joke that lacking context could in theory be interpreted as a racial diss?
          • Encrypting and hiding all your chat traffic?
          • Fizz@lemmy.nzEnglish
            71·
            9 months ago

            This is exactly the problem. The fbi shouldn’t be able to snoop on you based off suspicion. I can encrypt every thing and be as edgy as I want and they still shouldn’t pull my discord message history because they have no reason to suspect I’ve committed a crime or am going to commit a crime.

        • mods_are_assholes@lemmy.worldEnglish
          55·
          9 months ago

          It’s telling how you think that the context somehow makes this ‘better’.

          It doesn’t, at all.

          Jokes that are the product of a bigoted mind always carry the stink with it but people who align with said bigotry never notice because they are STEEPED in it constantly.

          Just like when people grow up and leave 4chan and the realize in horror that what they thought is normal there, is VERY much not normal.

          Which is why when edgelads try to repeat jokes they got off of forums in real life, it always comes off as creepy and flat.

          • Fizz@lemmy.nzEnglish
            56·
            9 months ago

            Outside of extremely lefty places like lemmy jokes like that are acceptable and if you called that joke out as bigoted then people would consider you odd. It’s not even an edgy joke it just has a racial punchline.

            • mods_are_assholes@lemmy.worldEnglish
              64·
              9 months ago

              I get the feeling that your only experiences outside of lemmy are 4chan and new.reddit if you think bigotry is that normalized.

              • Fizz@lemmy.nzEnglish
                23·
                9 months ago

                Please never join the fbi. There won’t be a single gamer who isn’t an extremist in your eyes.

                Also you’re delusional to assume my only internet experience is new reddit and 4chan. There is no one on this site who’s internet experience is new reddit and 4chan. That person doesn’t end up on the fediverse.

                • mods_are_assholes@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  3·
                  9 months ago

                  Shit son I’ve been a gamer so long my first controller only had one button.

                  You got zero induction going on in your thinkmeat but you assume you know everyone.

                  That person doesn’t end up on the fediverse.

                  As if they weren’t here day one. You’re blind if you don’t smell the reek of underbed cumsock in the bottom of most popular threads.

                  Or just hiding your power level.