CEOs of Steam, Discord, Twitch, and Reddit to be asked to testify before Congress about user 'radicalization'
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform convened a hearing with the CEOs of four platforms to address the possibility that online communication platforms may be exacerbating user radicalization. The hearing was triggered by the murder of political activist Charlie Kirk.
Chairman Comer Invites CEOs of Discord, Steam, Twitch, and Reddit to Testify on Radicalization of Online Forum Users - United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Steam, Discord CEOs called to Congress to testify over extremism on platforms
https://www.polygon.com/steam-discord-twitch-reddit-congress-politics/
Republican Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, James Comer, has invited the CEOs of Steam (Valve), Discord, Twitch, and Reddit to appear before the committee on October 8, 2025, to discuss the potential for radicalization of users on their platforms.
'Extremists have used online platforms to incite politically motivated violence, and Congress has a duty to monitor this,' said Chairman Comer. 'CEOs must come before the committee and explain what they will do to protect their platforms from misuse to prevent further radicalization and violence in the future.'
Chairman Comer also touched on the murder of Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed while giving a lecture at a university in Utah on September 10, 2025. Tyler Robinson was later arrested on suspicion of murder.
Kirk is a young conservative activist and supporter of President Donald Trump. Following the suspect's arrest, President Trump said , 'The suspect is a leftist who was radicalized through the internet.'
At the time of the crime, the suspect contacted his roommate on Discord to tell him he had hidden a rifle in the bushes. He also reportedly told friends on Discord, 'I'm sorry about everything,' just before turning himself in to police.
One of the shell casings recovered at the crime scene was found to have been inscribed with the message 'Hey, Fascist! Get him! ↑→↓↓↓.' The final arrow is a command used to request the release of a large bomb in the video game Helldivers 2. Other shell casings were inscribed with phrases related to online memes, such as 'Notices bulge / OWO what's this?' and 'Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao,' a reference to an anti-Nazi, anti-fascist Italian folk song, suggesting the suspect was deeply immersed in meme culture.
WATCH: Full press conference on Charlie Kirk shooting, with FBI and Utah governor - YouTube
The Helldivers 2 community responded with a heated debate, with the official Discord server flooded with messages condemning real-world violence, calling for the game and its players to distance themselves from perpetrators, and pleading with developer Arrowhead Game Studios to take action. The official Reddit channel was similarly thrown into chaos, with moderators temporarily blocking all posts.
Steam and Discord, while primarily intended for gamers and not for political purposes, have long served as platforms where extremists gather and harass those they perceive as their enemies. The 2017 Unite the Right Rally , a white supremacist rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia, was planned on Discord, and the far-right mass murderers responsible for the 2022 Buffalo shooting and the Highland Park Parade shootings also used the platform. In 2024, the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish organization, reported widespread extremism and anti-Semitism across Steam community groups. Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan previously criticized Valve CEO Gabe Newell for the platform's moderation policies, citing 'a significant presence of users on Steam who express and support neo-Nazi, extremist, racist, misogynistic, and other hateful sentiments.'
The October hearing will see the CEO given a five-minute opening statement, followed by a question-and-answer session with lawmakers.
Related Posts:
in Posted by log1p_kr