Valve faces allegations of "enabling the spread of hate" on its Steam platform

Valve's digital distribution service, Steam, has been criticized by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for enabling the spread of hate content on its platform.

Through an extensive analysis that covered the platform in depth, the ADL's Center on Extremism assessed over 458 million profiles, more than 152 million avatar images, and around 610 million comments, discovering vast amounts of extremist content, such as visible hate symbols. The detailed study is accessible here.

In a report highlighted by Eurogamer, the review identified approximately 1.8 million unique instances of such content. This involved 1.5 million users and over 70,000 groups using potentially extremist symbols or language.

It was also noted that over 820,000 avatars featured symbols associated with hate, like swastikas and altered versions of the "Pepe" meme. The analysis warns that these figures may understate the problem.

The organization criticized Valve for its lackadaisical stance on content management, stating that while the company has the means to moderate such content, a permissive content policy has contributed to its spread.

Although Valve has occasionally taken action against extremist content—usually following media exposure or governmental demands—this approach has not been comprehensive, leaving broader issues of hate and extremism largely unaddressed.

The ADL is now calling on Valve to establish and enforce policies that ban extremism and hate on its platform effectively and on a broad scale.