Understanding and Reducing Violent Extremism

Behind the Screen: How Terrorists Exploit Gaming Platforms and Online Spaces

Gaming has become central to how people connect, socialize, and build community online, with over 3 billion players globally. Increasingly, however, these same spaces are being exploited by terrorists and individuals or groups promoting violent extremism conducive to terrorism, who use gaming platforms for recruitment, radicalization, propaganda, and financing. Furthermore, the convergence of digital environments, algorithmic amplification, and the social and developmental vulnerabilities of children and youth has created conditions in which harmful content can reach users at scale. According to research by the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), terrorists are increasingly exploiting gaming-adjacent spaces - such as in-game chats, livestreams, and user-generated content - to spread propaganda and amplify their influence. Furthermore, a Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) Trends Alert highlights that, given the powerful and seamless social connectivity of these digital ecosystems, youth and children are also targeted across terrorist ideologies. In Europe and North America, children account for 42 per cent of terror related investigations. This webinar aims to go behind the screen and provide a clearer picture of these environments. Speakers from CTED’s Global Research Network (GRN) and United Nations entities will explain how features and cultures unique to gaming platforms – combined with AI and other emerging technologies – allow terrorists and groups promoting violent extremism conducive to terrorism to operate undetected. This webinar is hosted by the Addressing Violent Extremism and Radicalization to Terrorism (AVERT) Research Network, a member of CTED's Global Research Network (GRN), in cooperation with CTED.

Galen Lamphere-Englund

Senior Counter-Terrorism & Conflict Prevention Advisor; Co-Founder & Convener, Extremism and Gaming Research Network (EGRN)

Emily Thompson

Principal Strategic Advisor, Christchurch Call Foundation; Extremism and Gaming Research Network

Dr Linda Schlegel

PostDoc, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF)

Odhran McCarthy

New York Liaison Officer, United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI)