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Steam is 'an unsafe place for teens and young adults': US senator warns Gabe Newell of 'more intense scrutiny' from the government if Valve doesn't take action against extremist content (www.pcgamer.com)
submitted 2 years ago by [M] to c/games@sh.itjust.works
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[–] 39 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Steam honestly has it really bad. You don't see blatant hate speech in play store reviews but you certainly do on steam. The same goes for their forums, which are almost totally unmoderated. Totally agree tho that this is a symptom of a larger problem and am always wary of the government seeking to impede free speech, even if it's speech I despise. If there are calls to violence and stuff I'm totally cool with that being prosecuted ofc.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Yes, agreed, it definitely needs moderation. But I don't think it needs singling out (again, not saying don't moderate).

    The bigger picture is a proliferation of online extremist speech in general. And yes, Google may have done well to moderate play store reviews (anecdotally), but they certainly haven't done well with YouTube.

    But I would suggest that focusing on any one online forum / store / outlet / etc. will naturally miss an important trend, and the reasons for that trend should be understood -- while concurrently doing everything possible to limit this kind of hate online.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago

    I was going to add, as a user of both Steam and YouTube, I have seen far worse stuff in YouTube comments than I ever have on a Steam forum.

    I think part of this comes down to the fact that disgusting, hateful comments will pop up on almost any YouTube video in the comment section, but you actually have to navigate to Steam forums with this content.

    So, YouTube comments are thrown in your face and hard to not see, as they are right below the video, but Steam forum comments are at least hidden behind a few layers of clicks.

    I agree that singling out Steam as if it's the main problem, isn't going to fix anything, at all.

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