Europol Action Day Against Radicalization on Gaming Platforms

Europol, together with several partner countries, held a “Referral Action Day” last Thursday. In this context, criminal investigators reported thousands of URLs shared on gaming platforms that pointed to jihadist or violent and terrorist, right-wing extremist, as well as racist and xenophobic content.

Officers from Denmark, Germany, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom participated in the Europol operation on November 13, 2025. It involved dangerous and illegal content, as discussed by Europol in the report regarding the action day. In total, 5408 of the reported links led to jihadist content, 1070 to violent right-wing extremist and terrorist sites, and finally 105 to xenophobic and racist content.

Perpetrators Rely on “Gamification” of Dangerous Content

The operation highlighted the complexity of combating terrorist, racist, and xenophobic content on online gaming platforms. “The processes for creation and distribution are multifaceted and often involve multiple platforms. For example, content within an online game or its chat function can be recorded, modified with violent extremist jargon, suggestive emojis, singing, or music, and then distributed on a common social media platform,” explains Europol.

Previously, participating experts scoured various platforms frequented by young people and adults alike. Users of these platforms can encounter a wealth of dangerous and violent content. “Perpetrators recreate terrorist attacks, school shootings, or execution scenes in 3D games, edit the videos with singing or suggestive emojis, and distribute them on various common social media platforms to achieve an even wider reach,” say the investigators. “Other gaming platforms intended for streaming gameplay are misused to recruit minors for various violent, extremist, and terrorist groups or to live-stream actual attacks and even suicides,” they continue.

Investigators discovered the links on various platforms. These include those where players stream live and communicate with their community in real-time, or video-on-demand platforms. They also found illegal content on platforms for sharing game tips, news, and discussions. Finally, there are hybrid forms that combine streaming, community features, and game purchase options. Many of the accounts are not immediately recognizable as being associated with problematic content; others, however, unashamedly use profile pictures and names of known terrorists.

The recruitment and radicalization of minors pose an ongoing problem. As early as July, Europol reported thousands of such URLs during a similar action day were reported.

(dmk)