Congressional Republican Calls On Discord, Steam, Twitch CEOs To Testify About Radicalization

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Kentucky Representative James Comer, who leads the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has requested that the CEOs of Valve, Discord, Twitch, and Reddit participate in a hearing about how online platforms contribute to radicalization. This request follows the recent death of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, and Comer hopes their testimony will shed light on the issue.

In a statement, Representative Comer said the government needs to monitor social media platforms because extremist groups have used them to promote violence. He added that the platforms’ CEOs need to detail the steps they’ll take to prevent their sites from being used for harmful activities.

The heads of several companies have received requests to appear before a House Oversight Committee hearing on October 8th. The hearing will focus on how online forums can contribute to radicalization and instances of people being encouraged to commit politically motivated violence.

Details about the person suspected of killing Kirk reveal they were heavily involved in online culture and gaming. They reportedly etched references to internet memes and even a button combination from the game Helldivers 2 onto bullet casings. Friends described them as spending almost all their time online, and they were active on platforms like Discord and Steam. This, combined with the intense online reaction following the murder, has led some conservative leaders and media outlets to call for stricter regulations on social media companies.

There’s already a growing body of research exploring the complicated link between gaming communities and violent radicalization. Over the past few years, researchers – including myself – have been studying how these communities function. This research was prompted by several high-profile violent attacks where the attackers had connections to gaming culture or were radicalized on gaming-related social media. We’re looking at how people connect and build relationships within online games and how that might contribute to, or protect against, violent extremism. For example, I’ve spent years collaborating with others to understand how often gamers encounter hate speech and harassment, identify extremist groups on platforms like Steam, and develop ways to help gaming communities resist radicalization.

For years, researchers have carefully examined how culture and society connect with video games, consistently finding little proof that gaming directly causes violence. It’s common for public figures and lawmakers to point to video games after violent events, even though evidence linking gameplay to real-world violence is weak. Scientists have been studying this topic since the 1990s, and their findings have, at best, been inconclusive regarding claims of a connection between games and violence.

Although researchers are careful and focused on understanding online violence in gaming, recent actions by the US government have greatly limited this work. For example, my research was supported by a Department of Homeland Security grant program that was significantly reduced in July. Similar violence prevention studies funded by the National Institute for Health have also faced substantial funding cuts.

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2025-09-17 23:03