this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2024
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-16
Steam accused of 'normalizing hate and extremism in the gaming community' in new ADL report (www.pcgamer.com)
submitted 5 hours ago by gedaliyah@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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The Anti-Defamation League, a US organization that aims to combat antisemitism and support Israel, has published a report alleging that Steam is "rife with extremism and antisemitism," and accusing Valve of allowing the spread of hateful and extremist material through a "highly permissive approach to content policy."

The ADL's Center on Extremism found "found millions of examples of extremist and hateful content, including explicit hate symbols like sonnenrads and 'happy merchants,' as well as copypastas (blocks of text that are copied and pasted to form images or long-form writing) shaped into swastikas" being shared on the platform. The ADL also found "tens of thousands of pieces of terrorism-related content on Steam Community," including more than 15,000 public accounts with profile pictures featuring the flags or logos of ISIS, Hezbollah, Hamas

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[–] john117@lemmy.jmsquared.net 1 points 1 hour ago

I'm pretty sure the stance valve takes is "if it is legal, it will stay up", but please correct me if I'm wrong.

outlaw these hate symbols and maybe we will see change, much like Germany does with nazi symbols. I wonder why they won't do that. hmm....................

[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 30 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

“Aims to support Israel” is all I need to hear to shut my ears.

They’re getting big mad that they’re being called out for genocide. Cry harder.

[–] jayk@lemmy.ca 8 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I think one can criticise valve for not doing enough to moderate their platform while also not supporting genocide.

[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 18 points 4 hours ago

This would have a lot more weight coming from a human rights organization than from genocide lobbyists.

[–] Erasmus@lemmy.world 10 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Sounds like BS.

I’ve been on Steam for years and I’ve never seen it. I’m sure it probably exists in the dark corners if you go searching for it but it’s not openly present like it is on FB and Zitter.

[–] HC4L@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago

What region are you from and what games do you play? Because playing Counter Strike as a European gets me in contact with a lot of Eastern European players and lord have I seem some shit on those profiles.

[–] ieatpwns@lemmy.world 7 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Adl sounds compromised.

[–] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 3 points 2 hours ago

Not compromised.

They've been hypocrites for as long as I can remember.

[–] NutinButNet@hilariouschaos.com 5 points 4 hours ago

I have never seen any of these things while browsing Steam. I feel like you have to go searching for it if you want to find it and you will find it on any platform if that is your intention.

This report makes it feel like 4chan 2.0 which is a place that would fit their description.

Instead this just feels like a lame attempt from Epic or some other competitor at pulling down Valve since they can’t/don’t want to directly compete fairly.

I’m sure there are some disgusting racists and imagery on Steam, but not to the extent they’re making it out to be or that Valve approves of it. As a matter of fact, if you go check out controversial games like Dustborn or the newest Dragon Age, you’ll see that Valve has actually been suppressing negative reviews, regardless whether they contain offensive content or not.

[–] BMTea@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

As a true centrisy, for every "Six Days in Fallujah" I want one "Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque". Fuck the ADL.