Online radicalization: CEOs of Valve, Reddit and Discord summoned

Following the assassination of US MAGA activist Charlie Kirk, the US House of Representatives is subpoenaing several tech CEOs to testify about online radicalization on their platforms. This was announced on Wednesday by the office of Republican James Comer, who serves as Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Valve CEO Gabe Newell, Discord CEO Humam Sakhnini, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy and Reddit CEO Steve Huffmann have been summoned. According to the congressional committee, the hearing is to take place on 8 October and will shed light on the "radicalization of online forum users".

"Duty to oversee the platforms"

In a statement, committee chairman Comer justifies the hearing with the assassination of activist and Trump ally Charlie Kirk, which he describes as politically motivated. "In light of this tragedy and other acts of politically motivated violence, Congress has a duty to oversee the online platforms that radicals have used to advance political violence." Kirk was shot and killed at a university event in Utah on Sept. 10.

The subpoenaed CEOs are expected to outline how they plan to ensure that their platforms are not misused for malicious purposes in the future. The suspected Kirk assassin Tyler R. had labeled several cartridges for his firearm with online memes and slogans from gaming communities. One casing, for example, was labeled "Hey Fascist! Catch! ↑ ↓↓↓↓", which alludes to a key combination in the online shooter "Helldivers 2".

Gaming platforms barely monitored

In the EU too, online platforms such as Valve's Steam have already been targeted by regulators. "Although online games are not a threat in themselves, they can facilitate terrorist and other criminal activities," wrote the EU's then Anti-Terrorism Coordinator in an investigation report back in 2020. Gaming platforms in particular are poorly monitored and therefore exposed to the risk of misuse by terrorists and other criminals.

Most recently, the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Interior warned of the risk of radicalization on gaming platforms. According to the ministry, extremist groups, including right-wing extremists, Islamists and conspiracy ideologues, specifically use online and gaming platforms to target and ideologically influence young people.

"In voice chats, forums and even directly in games themselves, extremist groups use the proximity to young people to build trust, anchor their ideology – and thus manipulate them, often insidiously, often unnoticed," said Baden-Württemberg's Interior Minister Thomas Strobl. "Once you come across extremist content, you are constantly receiving more and more of it without being asked. This retreat from the democratic world into an ideological world then quickly becomes a dangerous pull."

(dahe)