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Harmful Memes Beyond AI's Reach: The Dangerous Reality of 'Game-Adjacent Platforms' - The Overlooked Harmful Content on Video Game Sites

Harmful Memes Beyond AI's Reach: The Dangerous Reality of 'Game-Adjacent Platforms' - The Overlooked Harmful Content on Video Game Sites

2025年08月02日 00:25

1. Prologue: Shadows Lurking in the "Playground"

"Who is on the other side of the headset?" The gaming market, which saw explosive growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, has evolved into a massive community with over 3 billion players worldwide. However, within this sector, amidst highlight reels and provocative chats, white supremacy and conspiracy theories are quietly infiltrating. The latest research from Anglia Ruskin University sheds light on this "invisible shadow" with data.


2. Overview of the Research and Key Findings

2-1 Subjects and Methods

The research team conducted interviews with 42 individuals, including moderators active on platforms like Discord, Twitch, and Steam, safety management personnel from tech companies, and counter-terrorism experts. Additionally, they analyzed 3.2TB of messages from public channels using machine learning to visualize the frequency and dissemination paths of harmful expressions.

2-2 Far-Right Content Dominates

The most prevalent content was far-right, with white supremacy, neo-Nazism, and anti-Semitism accounting for 58% of all posts. Islamic extremism was at 9%, but "adjacent content" like "memes glorifying school shootings" showed a significant presence at 27%.Anglia Ruskin University

2-3 Funnel Structure

The key to the investigation was the "funnel." Young people attracted by mainstream social media are guided to semi-public servers on Discord via DMs and invitation links. There, "big brother" streamers repeatedly make discriminatory jokes while streaming FPS games, ingraining a sense of camaraderie along with radical ideologies.

2-4 Limitations of Moderation

AI primarily relies on word filters and struggles to read context. Emoji substitutions and coded slang like "GG ez, <卍>" slip through detection, forcing moderators to handle them manually. However, with tens of thousands of chat lines per hour, human effort cannot keep up.


3. Reactions on Social Media: The Contrast of Backlash and Sympathy

  • Reddit: The link to the Guardian article was instantly spread across multiple communities like r/technology. Comments from parents like "My son was voice chatting with a stranger during CoD. It sent chills down my spine" ranked high.RedditReddit

  • In the Guardian's comment section, opinions were divided with over 800 posts, debating whether "dialogue between parents and children should come before online regulation" and "not to demonize gaming culture."The Guardian

  • The official account of the counter-terrorism agency on X (formerly Twitter) cited the research, warning that "extra caution is needed during summer vacation." A handbook for parents was reposted over 10,000 times.The Guardian


4. Case Study: The Reality Reflected in the "Felix Incident"

Felix Winter, an 18-year-old high school student from Edinburgh, UK, spent over 1,000 hours on Discord and became inclined towards a neo-Nazi group. His plan to imitate an offender was discovered, and he received a prison sentence in July this year. Researchers point out that this is "symbolic but just the tip of the iceberg."The Guardian


5. Why Gaming Culture is Targeted

  1. Instant Camaraderie
    In matchmaking, even first-time encounters become "allies."

  2. Pseudo "Bravery" Experience
    The scoreboard in FPS games easily ties to notions of force.

  3. Coexistence of Live and Anonymity
    Twitch combines the broadcasting power of television with the closed nature of a back alley that Discord offers.


6. Recommendations and Future Challenges

  • Multi-Platform Collaboration: Share blacklists of malicious users and track "migratory birds" after bans.

  • Research and Development of Contextual AI: Implement large-scale language models that estimate the intent of speech into moderation to address meme variants.

  • Digital Citizenship Education: Introduce "online recruitment role-play" in elementary and middle school classes to support adolescent self-esteem.

  • Parental Dashboard: Visualize risk indicators of participating servers, not just playtime.


7. Epilogue: Reclaiming the "Playground"

Games are inherently a medium that connects people and fosters creativity. To ensure that diverse players can run around the same field with peace of mind, a "next-generation safety net" through the trinity of technology, community, and policy is urgently needed.


Reference Articles

How Harmful Content is Evading Detection on Popular Video Gaming Sites
Source: https://phys.org/news/2025-07-content-evading-popular-video-gaming.html

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