LICRA Complains to Steam about Rampant Antisemitic Hate on their Platform

Licra (International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism),  Get the Trolls Out! partner in France, made a public complaint to the video game platform Steam about the proliferation of vile antisemitic, anti-Arab and anti-African hate on their platform. With over 150 million users, Steam – owned by the Valve Corporation – is the largest and most popular platform for PC gaming. To give an overview, it is a cloud-based gaming eco system that allows users to play a variety of different games ‘together’ online. In addition to playing the games, users can buy/store/sell them, watch demos of upcoming titles and, most importantly, interact with other members of the gaming community.

Unfortunately, there is a dark side to the interactive possibilities offered by Steam. Valve’s hands-off approach to moderation has made the platform a real safe haven for neo-Nazis, racists and other types of hateful individuals and groups. ADL (Anti-Defamation League) explain that “the difference between Steam and social media platforms like Telegram or Gab is that while the latter do not share a formal business relationship with the wider social media industry, Steam has direct and lucrative relationships with most major game companies, including 2K, Electronic Arts, Xbox Game Studios, Ubisoft and others. Many of these game companies have made public statements about and dedicated significant resources towards keeping their products safe from the kinds of hateful ideologies espoused by extremists — while continuing to work with Steam.”

Licra tweeted their bilingual complaint to Steam, tagging its official accounts and including a collage of screengrabs with examples of offending material. The complaint reads:

“Les jeux vidéo ne doivent pas devenir le refuge des neonazis, des racistes et des antisémites. Nous demandons à Steam de réagir afin que cela cesse. @Steam, don’t let your platform be a haven for neo-nazis and white supremacists, act now. #L4D2 @Steam_Support @Steam_SupportFR”

LICRA have not received a reply, as of yet. This page will be updated if and when Steam responds.