The DHS is spending $700,000 on researching counterterrorism in games
The United States' Department of Homeland Security (DHS)(opens in new tab) is devoting almost $700,000 of funding to a research project aimed at countering terrorist recruitment via games like Roblox, Ars Technica reports(opens in new tab).
The grant totals an incredibly specific $699,763, and will go to research aimed at the «development of a set of best practices and centralized resources for monitoring and evaluation of extremist activities».
The project is being undertaken jointly by three organisations: the Middlebury Institute’s Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism; Take This, which focuses on mental health in gaming; and Logically, which looks at ways to deal with bad online behaviour.
The research aims to find ways to counter radicalisation and terrorist recruitment via games like Roblox, alongside games from the like of Blizzard and Bungie. In other words, it's focusing on games that function as social hubs as well as playable experiences. The DHS grant announcement says that game devs both big and small «have lagged in awareness of how extremists may attempt to exploit their games».
The Ars report points to a 2021 ADL survey(opens in new tab) as an example of the unchecked growth of extremist subcommunities in the underbelly of online gaming. The survey found that:
The grant also comes in the context of a recent shift in focus by the DHS(opens in new tab) that identifies «ethnically motivated violent extremists—specifically white supremacist extremists» as the «most persistent and lethal threat in the Homeland».
Dr. Rachel Kowert, of Take This, told Vice's Motherboard(opens in new tab) that the project's research would likely lean towards «white nationalism and white supremacy» in games. It
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