Today the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, announced a federal investment of more than $317,000 to the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, for its partnership with the Extremism and Gaming Research Network, which seeks to better understand potentially harmful socialization processes on gaming and gaming-adjacent platforms.
This project will analyze data from across multiple online platforms to investigate how the formation of communities alongside gameplay has the potential to create environments conducive to radicalization to violent extremism. Through gender-based analysis, this study will examine how identities are formed for both individuals and groups of gamers, and understand how misogyny can connect violent extremist ideologies across geography and culture on gaming and gaming-adjacent platforms.
It will aim to provide a more comprehensive understanding of potentially harmful socialization processes on gaming and gaming-adjacent platforms. This will help to ensure the safety of users on these platforms, counter abuse of these platforms for radicalization and recruitment into violent extremism, and inform preventative efforts to reach users at the intersection of gaming subcultures and violent extremism.
This investment is made through Public Safety's Community Resilience Fund (CRF), which supports partnerships and innovation in countering radicalization to violence.
