Senator Challenges Valve’s Commitment to Eradicating ‘Aggressive and Violent’ Extremism on Steam
U.S. Senator Tag Warner (D-VA) has raised concerns regarding Valve’s commitment to tackling extremism on Steam.
As highlighted by The Verge, Warner reached out to Valve co-founder Gabe Newell through a letter expressing worries about the “hatred and extremism” that seems to have been allowed to thrive on Steam, suggesting that the platform has “chosen to maintain a ‘hands off’ approach to content moderation” which permits certain individuals to engage in “sustained episodes of disturbing and violent rhetoric.”
Warner’s correspondence makes reference to a recent Anti-Defamation League (ADL) report, which states that Steam presently has over 1 million unique user accounts and 100,000 user-created groups that promote “antisemitic, Nazi, white supremacist, gender- and sexuality-based hate, and additional extremist ideologies.”
He points out that Valve had previously been notified about the issue through a Senate letter sent in 2022 but seems to have failed to properly address the matter, believing that the company has evaded broader scrutiny despite being comparable in size to some of the largest social media platforms.
“Steam is the most significant single online gaming digital distribution and social networking platform globally, boasting over 10 million unique user accounts and a user base comparable in scale to ‘traditional’ social media and networking platforms,” he noted.
“Steam is financially successful, holding a prominent position in its industry, generating billions of dollars in annual revenue for Valve. Until now, Steam has largely not received the scrutiny it deserves as a de facto major social network where its users participate in many of the same activities expected of a social media platform.”
“[…] It’s reasonable to question how committed Valve is to effectively implement and enforce its self-created Behavior Policy for its users, considering the 1 million Steam user accounts and 100,000 user-created groups promoting hateful ideologies identified by the ADL.”
Warner stated that “lax enforcement of user behavior agreements” on other social networks, combined with a “perceived reluctance” from those companies to uphold the intent of those agreements, has contributed to increased harassment and abuse. He argues that Valve should do more to protect users rather than leaving them vulnerable to harassment, intimidation, and ridicule.
“As Black Friday and the holiday shopping season near, the American public should be aware that Steam not only represents an unsafe environment for children and young adults to acquire and play online games, but also that, unless there is a shift in Valve’s approach to user moderation and the acceptance of hateful behavior on its platform, Steam plays a significant role in allowing harmful ideologies to spread and take root among the next generation,” he added.
“Valve needs to enhance its content moderation practices in line with industry standards or face increased scrutiny from the federal government for its complicity in enabling hate groups to gather and engage in actions that undeniably put Americans at risk.”
Warner has requested that Valve and Newell respond to a series of questions by December 13, 2024, to better understand how the company is approaching content moderation.