US government report reveals how Discord, Roblox, Reddit and others co-operate with the FBI and Homeland Security over content like 'user-generated re-creations of mass shootings'

A newly published US Government Accountability Report (GAO) looks at the role of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security in combating domestic violent extremism online, and in the process reveals what we surely all knew anyway. Discord? Reddit? Roblox. All your base are belong to the Feds!

The GAO report (first picked up by The Intercept) is more wide-ranging than just gaming, but is essentially focused on online communication platforms of all sorts, how US government and law enforcement agencies interact with them, and what the companies themselves are and should be doing about extreme content. The report is based on interviews with five companies that have been coordinating with the FBI and DHS: Roblox, Discord, Reddit, plus one gaming publisher and one social media company that asked to remain anonymous. Insert your guesses here.

The nature of this cooperation when it comes to the gaming companies is essentially that the DHS holds meetings at which they share information «about online activities promoting domestic violent extremism» or even stuff that violates their terms of service. The companies provide leads on anything that may potentially be illegal and the FBI follows up. In addition to this Discord and Roblox have a «trusted flagger» program through which «approved subject matter experts in extremism can use a streamlined channel to report potentially violating content.»

We'll get into the weeds of what the government thinks such content may include, but the report offers some examples. «Researchers have identified user-generated re-creations of mass shootings on the gaming platform Roblox, such as the 2019 shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the 2022 shooting in Buffalo, New York. Roblox officials told us their moderation team reviewed their content moderation tools and adjusted them to block these games and prevent content glorifying violent incidents from appearing on the platform.»

Recreations of real world