U.S. senator calls out Steam for its racist, extremist, and antisemetic content

While the age-old debate around video games and violence has been a long back-and-forth, the discussion around extremism is currently gaining heat.

Whether there is a gateway to extremism through gaming is a debate that should be left to politicians and researchers, however, there is no denying there is the potential for dangerous content to be viewed on platforms that don’t take the time to review this material.

This is where New Hampshire senator Maggie Hassan joins the battle. Sen. Hassan has reportedly sent Gabe Newell, the creator of Valve, a letter addressing the substantial amount of white supremacist imagery found in the depths of the company’s Steam community forums and user-created content.

The letter claims: “Steam has a significant presence of users displaying and espousing neo-Nazi, extremist, racial supremacist, misogynistic, and other hateful sentiments.” Sen. Hassan has proposed that Valve should be undertaking precautions and must immediately move to prevent any content that’s harmful in nature.

While Steam isn’t the only game distributor and platform in the online sector, it’s almost irrefutable that the gaming giant is leading the industry.

“The prevalence and ease of finding this content is extremely concerning, especially given the popularity that Valve currently enjoys over its competitors in the video game digital distribution ecosystem,” the letter reads.

The letter showcased a study focused around gamers aged between 13 and 17. It suggested “nearly one in ten… [have] been exposed to white-supremacist idealogy and themes in online multiplayer games.”

Sen. Hassan argues it’s Valve’s job to act on this new information.

Neo-Nazi extremist groups have a history of posting to platforms like Steam. One of these groups, the “Attomwafen Division”, was an active Steam group in 2018 prior to it being removed for breaking Steam’s Community guidelines.