Online Safety and the Regulation of Gaming Platforms and Services
By Ellen Jacobs, Helena Schwertheim, Ella Meyer, Melanie Döring and Terra Rolfe
Examines extremism and safety risks on gaming platforms and services and the regulatory gaps in addressing them.
About this research
This original report draws on legal/policy analysis, with research spanning 5 countries.
- Publication
- Original report · 47 pages
- Research approach
- legal/policy analysis
- Geographic focus
- Australia · Germany · Slovakia · United Kingdom · United States
Publication details prepared by Social Media Transparency from the original source.
Executive summary
AI-generatedThis summary was generated by AI from the original report to make it easier to scan and cite. It is not a substitute for the source. Read the original above.
This ISD UK/ISD-US publication examines extremism and broader online-safety risks on gaming platforms and adjacent services such as Discord, Steam, Twitch, and Roblox, and considers the regulatory gaps that leave these spaces less scrutinized than mainstream social media. It draws on a series of working-group meetings held between May and July 2024 involving government representatives from Australia, Germany, New Zealand, and Slovakia, the European Commission, the UK, the US, and participants from civil society and academia.
The report situates gaming and gaming-adjacent platforms as an under-addressed front in online safety and counter-extremism policy, arguing that existing regulatory frameworks — largely built around traditional social media — do not adequately capture the ways extremist actors use gaming spaces and services for recruitment, community-building, or content dissemination.
The full report text was not directly accessible for this summary; the above reflects the publication's stated scope, participating organizations, and thematic focus as described on ISD's site, including related coverage of gaming spaces as potential entry points to extremist content.
Think this summary is wrong? Contact us.