WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) called on Valve Corporation, one of the largest video game developers and online distributors, to address rampant extremism, particularly antisemitism, on its Steam platform. Senator Hassan’s letter comes on the heels of the Anti-Defamation League’s report showing antisemitic incidents in the United States at an all-time high in 2021 since the organization began tracking in 1979.

In her letter, Senator Hassan highlighted the numerous examples of terms and images associated with neo-Nazi, extremist, and racial supremacist ideologies. Her letter to the Valve Corporation CEO also notes how this extremist, hateful content can manifest offline in violent attacks.

In her letter she writes, “The exposure to explicit, unambiguous, and pervasive symbols, visuals, and words and phrases associated with racial supremacy, neo-Nazism, antisemitism, gender-based violence or harassment, homophobia, and other hateful and harmful ideologies restricts and inhibits many Steam users from participating in communities free of harassing, abusive, and threatening behavior. Furthermore, allowing racist, extremist, antisemitic, and other hateful ideologies an unimpeded space in which they can flourish online allows for the very real threat of violence in offline, physical spaces.”

The effort builds on Senator Hassan’s leadership on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to address foreign and domestic terrorist threats. Hassan helped pass into law bipartisan legislation to ensure that grant funding to strengthen security at houses of worship and nonprofit organizations is available for small states like New Hampshire, not just major metropolitan areas, and Senator Hassan has successfully worked to increase funding for the program. Her bipartisan legislation, the Pray Safe Act, would establish a federal clearinghouse through which faith-based organizations and houses of worship could access information on safety and security best practices, available federal grant programs, and training opportunities. Earlier this year, Senator Hassan emphasized the threat online radicalization poses to our safety and democracy during a Homeland Security Committee hearing. As part of her questioning, she spoke with experts on counterterrorism and antisemitism about how federal agencies can combat online radicalization that can lead to domestic terrorism.