The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are reportedly going after video game enthusiasts they deem “extremists,” according to a recent report by The Intercept.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the federal government has been subject to accusations of overreach and an invasion of U.S. citizens’ privacy. For instance, while investigating the events of January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol, the FBI cast a broad dragnet to target people whose phones’ location data put them near the building on the day in question, whether or not their behavior was peaceful.
The Intercept cited a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office that noted federal law enforcement is working with social media and gaming companies to identify and suppress content determined to be a form of “extremism.”
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have mechanisms to share and receive domestic violent extremism threat-related information with social media and gaming companies. However, neither agency has developed a strategy that articulates how it identifies and selects companies to engage with or the goals and desired outcomes of those engagements,” the report reads. “Without a strategy or goals, the agencies may not be fully aware of how effective their communications are with companies, or how effectively their information-sharing mechanisms serve the agencies’ overall missions.”
The companies that cooperated with the federal agencies included Reddit, Roblox, and Discord, as well as two others who opted to remain anonymous in the report.
“All I can think of is the awful track record of the FBI when it comes to identifying extremism,” said Hasan Piker, a left-wing Twitch streamer who talks politics online, per The Intercept. “They’re much better at finding vulnerable teenagers with mental disabilities to take advantage of.”
The Intercept’s report comes as concerns grow over the perceived weaponization of federal law enforcement for political ends, as previously reported by DX.