The United States government is partnering with a number of gaming companies and social media platforms to clampdown on what they are referring to as “extremist gamers.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to a report by the U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO), published in January and recently released to closeout the month of February, are now working to monitor and mitigate supposed language that promotes “extremism.”
The report titled “Countering Violent Extremism: FBI and DHS Need Strategies and Goals for Sharing Threat Information with Social Media and Gaming Companies,” suggests “domestic terrorists often use online platforms—such as social media and gaming—to communicate radical ideas to a wide audience and mobilize likeminded people.”
Domestic violent extremists use social media and gaming platforms for several purposes, including to reach wide audiences; to insert their extremist ideas into the mainstream; and to radicalize, recruit, and mobilize others, according to government reports and experts GAO spoke with (see figure). Experts noted that violent extremists generally use a variety of platforms for different purposes, depending on available features, audiences, and content moderation practices.
GAO said in summary
The GAO study revealed cites interviews conducted with five gaming and social media companies that include Roblox, a popular online metaverse game; Discord, a social media app geared towards gamers; the forum discussion site Reddit; including another gaming and social media company that requested to remain anonymous.
GAO additionally noted:
According to social media and gaming companies GAO met with, they use various content moderation tools to identify and remove content they determine violates their platforms’ policies related to domestic violent extremism on their platforms. For example, they report using machine learning tools to scan for content that violates their policies, as well as reviews by employees.
However, companies and experts reported that several factors affect these moderation efforts, such as company financial considerations and diversity in standards of acceptable content. For example, content banned on one platform could be allowed on another.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have mechanisms to share and receive domestic violent extremism threat-related information with social media and gaming companies. However, neither agency has developed a strategy that articulates how it identifies and selects companies to engage with or the goals and desired outcomes of those engagements.
Without a strategy or goals, the agencies may not be fully aware of how effective their communications are with companies, or how effectively their information-sharing mechanisms serve the agencies’ overall missions.
As noted in the much broader 45-page report, the DHS and FBI has five summarized terrorism threat categories: racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism; anti-government and anti-authority violent extremism; animal rights or environmental; abortion-related; and “all other domestic terrorist threats”, which includes things based on “conspiracy theories, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.”
Moreover, as noted in the report, the FBI’s “investigative or intelligence activities may include collecting online content, including content promoting domestic violent extremism, that may otherwise be protected by the First Amendment, if it has a nexus to criminal activity or threats to national security. However, FBI investigative activities may not be conducted based solely on First Amendment activity.”
GAO went on to list five different actions these companies can take to tackle this terrorism and extremism: Terms of service; Machine Learning; Reporting by users and trusted flaggers; Reviews by human trust and safety teams; Design features that discourage violating content.
One popular gaming franchise, Call of Duty, has already begun to implement their own policies, using AI to monitor voice chats for “toxicity” and violent extremism.
In 2022 The WinePress reported that the DHS received a $700,000 grant to begin their studies in terrorism in gaming, and look for improved mitigation strategy.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
Psalm 73:8
While I am not an advocate for playing video games and some of these social media sites, this is just ridiculous for reasons I think are pretty self-explanatory. Clearing the attacks on what people can say are getting ridiculous; and with AI, which has shown to be very glitchy, super biased, and easily triggered by false-positives, so many people are going to be hit with “microaggressions” and placed on watchlists.
It has NOTHING to do with terrorism, as it never has, just more control and censorship as usual. 2024, as I have regularly been saying, will be another year of massive snatches in what we can say online, and even in person at this point. Be careful what you say and where.
The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips: but the just shall come out of trouble.
Proverbs 12:13
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
The WinePress needs your support! If God has laid it on your heart to want to contribute, please prayerfully consider donating to this ministry. If you cannot gift a monetary donation, then please donate your fervent prayers to keep this ministry going! Thank you and may God bless you.
Proves they dont understand biblical dispensation.
The only believable thing here is that “our” government has found yet another way to suppress speech they don’t like
You had better wake up America. You’re being played. Message your Representatives, tell them to uphold our current laws before they fund this “bogeyman hunt. We are being screwed at our borders every freaking minute of every day. D.C. is nothing but a sewer of corruption. We need to clean them out. They are worse than cockrouches. Wake up or it’s game over, for us all.
Jacks1son, “Message your Representatives, tell them to uphold our current laws before they fund this “bogeyman hunt.”
It’s time to come out from under your rock now; you DON’T have “representatives”! It’s been that way for the past 100 years. How can you and so many others not recognize this? N. Amerika has been cleverly taken over by treasonous tyrants.
“We need to clean them out.” Talk is cheap and ineffective. Do it! They get away with their corruption because people hide behind their computers. The enemy has won the war without firing a single shot!
Why don’t these ass holes get out and arrest actual criminals?
To Dash Riprock, I’d say, why don’t online couch critics get away from shooting off their mouths online, and begin to shoot the things that are the most effective? Online comments are as effective as public protests…they’re not!
“Domestic violent extremists use social media and gaming platforms for several purposes, including to reach wide audiences; to insert their extremist ideas into the mainstream; and to radicalize, recruit, and mobilize others, according to government reports and experts GAO spoke with (see figure).”
The handwriting is very clear on the wall…this is where the killer drones come into play. For many years, they’ve been watching the gamers from behind the scenes. Year ago, they’ve even hired many of them to do their “strikes” on foreign soil. They will control the drones that kill their either their own people, or others, and vice versa. Either way, the global herd will be culled. Blood sport is making its way back from the abyss of history.
Make sure you love on your family and friends; they’ll soon be targets, as will the rest of us.
Just ask the Heaven’s Gate coders what happened when they published a REAL Tesla gun schematic….oh wait, YOU CAN’T!!!! Good thing I kept them and tested one, it’s AWESOME!!!
Notice of course that the ‘extremists’ and ‘terrorists’ are NEVER marxists, leftwing whackjobs or any other group than Whites. You can scream ‘blm’ , or allahu snackbar’ or whatever all day, but just say ‘its OK to be White’ and you are on the list.
If you are NOT on several ‘lists’ , you arent doing your job. Remember, they called Jesus an antigovernment extremist too…