Response to interpellation 2023/24:248 on right-wing extremism in the gaming world

Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Mr. Speaker! Mattias Vepsä has asked me what measures I and the government intend to take to increase knowledge about right-wing extremism in the gaming world and to combat right-wing extremism online.

Violence-promoting and anti-democratic messages occur in several different forms online. After Hamas's attack against Israeli civilians, we have seen an increase in praises of the attack and calls for violence on several different platforms.

The Swedish Security Service describes in its latest annual report how violent extremists appear on social online platforms, including streaming and gaming platforms. Hate and conspiracy theories are spread, and violent extremists can influence children and young people who can be radicalized by their messages. A recently conducted survey by the gaming culture association Sverok also shows a worrying rise of right-wing extremism in the gaming world.

The government and the authorities take radicalization and recruitment to violent extremism online with the utmost seriousness. Since the summer of 2022, the European Parliament and Council's regulation on measures to combat the dissemination of terrorist content online, the so-called TCO regulation, has applied, which aims to remove terrorist content from, among other things, social networks. Ultimately, the Swedish Police Authority can issue a removal order. Even though the TCO regulation does not apply to gaming platforms, we see a clearly increased level of activity among EU member states to remove terrorist content.

Children and young people should be able to participate in various social media and on gaming platforms and feel safe. The platform companies' own work is therefore important. Many times, they themselves have the greatest opportunities to act against illegal material in the form of, among other things, terrorist content, because the material generally violates their terms of use. The platforms can also act against other material that violates their terms of use.

At the end of November, I met with some of the larger online actors together with the Swedish Police Authority and the Swedish Prosecution Authority. It is clear that there are serious problems with the dissemination of illegal material online and that there is a need to develop cooperation, both nationally and within the EU.

Society also needs to mobilize to strengthen resilience among children and young people to break radicalization and counter recruitment to violent extremism. Professionals in areas such as school, leisure activities, and social services need to have access to knowledge about the propaganda spread in digital environments, including on various gaming platforms, but also be given access to the right tools to be able to prevent hate, threats, violent extremism, and terrorism, even in digital environments. Since 2022, the Total Defence Research Institute, FOI, has had a permanent mandate to map violent extremism and racism in digital environments. The Centre against Violent Extremism, CVE, at the Crime Prevention Council fulfills a very important function in providing tailored support to local actors and contributing to higher efficiency in the preventive measures.

More social actors need to do more, individually and together, to counter violence-promoting extremism. As mentioned, the school is an important actor. Skolverket offers schools support in the work against intolerance and extremism within the framework of the work with the school's democracy mandate. In August, the government decided on a supplementary directive to the School Safety Investigation, which means that the investigator shall map out and analyze which tasks may need to be exchanged between school, social services, and law enforcement agencies for crime prevention purposes.

In conclusion, I would like to highlight that the government is working intensively to develop a new unified strategy against violent extremism and terrorism. The strategy will also take into account the more complex threat and the new societal problems that exist, such as the spread of false information and disinformation, not least in the online environment.

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Mattias Vepsä (S)

Mr. Speaker! I thank you for the answer to my interpellation.

I question whether we would have accepted open Nazism, hate, threats, homophobia and sexism if it had occurred openly on a playground in broad daylight. Would we not have done everything we could to stop hate, threats, sexism, homophobia and other violations?

However, the far-right is spreading in the gaming environment today. It is an ongoing epidemic that affects children and young people daily. Nine out of ten children and young people have played games in the last year, and seven out of ten children and young people socialize with their friends in online environments on gaming platforms or social media. This is not just a Swedish phenomenon but a global phenomenon. 82 percent of all internet users in the entire world are part of the gaming environment, and that corresponds to approximately 40 percent of the world's population.

It is in that context that we should see that hate, threats, and violations from the far-right doubled between 2021 and 2022. According to Sveroks survey, which the Minister for Justice refers to, one can also read that 64 percent of Swedish players have encountered far-right views in the gaming world. It is a matter of a breadth of opinions and everything from gross hate and recruitment attempts to simply having to endure the far-right world pushing its way in.

Then the analogy becomes quite serious: Would we have accepted if this had happened on schoolyards, on playgrounds or in parks, or would we have done more?

Sweden is in no way vaccinated against right-wing extremism. It is in right-wing extremist environments that school attacks have been planned. The murder of Ing-Marie Wieselgren in Visby was committed by a person with right-wing extremist views and a right-wing extremist background. In the right-wing extremist environments, hatred is growing, and even the threat from these environments is growing. Just yesterday, the police in Spain struck against a Nazi leader suspected of plans for a coup d'état, attempted murder, and other terrible things. In the same way, the police in Germany have had long-standing surveillance of the Reichsbürger movement, which not only spreads Nazism and hatred but also cultivates conspiracy theories and actively exists in these environments to recruit new young people and new children into this extreme environment. It is in those environments that threats, murders, and coups d'état are planned.

I have read and listened to the Minister for Justice's response to the interpellation and must say that it is good that things are being done. But I believe that too little is being done. As it says in Expos report Motdrag, "the sound of deafening warning bells" is here. We see the threat. We see how the far-right are pushing forward their positions. Against that background, I wonder if the Minister for Justice sees a need for further initiatives at the EU level and if more can be done here at home to involve civil society and take broad measures to counter far-right extremism in the gaming world.

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Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Mr. Speaker! I thank Mattias Vepsä for the opportunity to discuss these very important issues. First of all, I want to broaden the perspective. I will then come to the far-right extremism more specifically.

Antidemocratic movements of various kinds act very offensively in the digital environment, not only on gaming platforms but in the digital environment in general. The terror threats and threats from violent extremism that Sweden now faces come from several different sources: the right-wing extremism, violent Islamism, and over time various left-autonomous movements, although in recent times it has primarily been about just right-wing extremism and violent Islamism.

The studies that Mattias Vepsä refers to confirm the broader anti-democratic issues that exist in digital environments. Recently, following Hamas's terror attack against Israel, we have to a very high degree seen antisemitism, not infrequently backed by both violent Islamist and far-right positions in a kind of unholy alliance. All of this is intended to make existence insecure and unsafe for children and young people in the digital environment, but also over time contribute to a polarization and radicalization that can ultimately materialize in tangible threats of acts of violence affecting both individuals and society at large. We shall, therefore, take these problems very seriously. There is no doubt whatsoever.

When it comes to the gaming world, it is obvious that not least far-right actors are very active specifically in gaming environments. The Sverok report that I mentioned and which Mattias Vepsä refers to points to this. Expo's series of reports that have been published during the autumn confirms that picture. For my part, I had a meeting with the youth in Sverok earlier this year. It was a very enlightening meeting and for me a wake-up call regarding the importance of the adult world further strengthening its presence and perhaps not least its understanding of what it actually is that is happening in this environment.

I want to point out the explicit mandates that central authorities have in this area. Several of the studies we have spoken about have been financed, initiated, or developed in collaboration with the Center against Violent Extremism and the Agency for Youth and Civil Society Issues. One can therefore say that the state is present when it comes to building and disseminating knowledge and, not least – if I look at my own agency and the Center against Violent Extremism – offering very tangible concrete support, for example to schools and other local actors, in order to be able to address this issue and meet young people where they are.

I have taken note of a number of proposals highlighted in these reports and others, and I am absolutely open to discussing further measures. The important thing is that we, with precision and force, do such things as are intended to create a safe and secure environment, not least for children and young people who play or otherwise find themselves in the digital environment, and in that way push back anti-democratic forces, whether they are right-wing extremist, violence-oriented Islamist, or for that matter of another kind.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Mattias Vepsä (S)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer! I stand here and wonder if we should have a bit of political development together. I believe it is crucial that we in politics see the great threat that right-wing extremism poses and that these environments are as present as they actually are online. Not everyone has that knowledge and is so present in the environments of children and young people that one sees and can gain own experiences of how strong and great the reach is.

In another report, from the Agency for Psychological Defence, 40 influence techniques are identified that have successfully targeted the gaming domain specifically. I share the view that the online environment encompasses more than gaming. Even though this interpellation targets specifically the gaming and gejming world, we also have social media and other platforms online where hate, threats, sexism, and right-wing extremism are present.

What is interesting in the report from the Psychological Defence Agency is that it points out that extensive influence and information campaigns occur, and that it is not just about right-wing extremism but also about foreign powers. It involves everything from influencing our general elections to recruiting to extreme environments in order, ultimately, to be able to commit acts of terrorism or spread their views further.

But one points out here - and that is also what I read in the reports we are discussing here - that the social media platforms have come somewhat further regarding both moderation and underlying technology to be able to identify hate, threats, and right-wing extremism. I know that within the gaming industry, work is being done actively, for this is not just entertainment, a pastime, a pleasure and a cultural form but also a large and growing branch of industry in Sweden.

As you describe in your answer, you have also had a dialogue with the industry yourself. Here, one can see a need for more to be done between the public sector and the industry organization, as well as civil society, as a third party, to ensure that these environments become safe - so that more people can continue to play and avoid being faced with very extreme opinions and hate.

When it comes to crime fighting, the need to move forward legislatively has been discussed in other areas. In Germany, they have tried to regulate social media platforms and also gaming platforms. Even at the European level, there is a discussion about moving in a different direction and not just having self-regulatory rules but also political requirements in the form of legislation. How is that discussion going in an EU context? What has the minister picked up on that front, and what do you imagine is important to look at?

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Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Madam Speaker! I think that Mattias Vepsä once again provides very pedagogical descriptions of the depth and breadth of the problem. Also associated with the image is that these are environments where the adult world is largely absent. For children and young people, not least, it is therefore a matter of enormous exposure. It places high demands on children and young people to be very vaccinated against the perceptions and values that are promoted in these contexts and to be able to withstand them.

In conversations and discussions with both the actors who are close to the gaming industry and other platform companies, I have received the impression that it is very important to increase knowledge and the adult world's understanding of this environment and what happens there, and about how methodically, systematically, and offensively different extremist movements use these platforms. I therefore think that the reports we have talked about, which have been developed by non-profit structures but financed or otherwise managed in cooperation with some of our agencies that have specific mandates in this area, are very important steps in a knowledge-enhancing direction.

There are also some proposals for additional measures that could be taken to structure the interaction in an even more offensive way and discuss how the authorities' work against security threats of this kind can be strengthened. There are discussions about cyber patrolling. It concerns a European experience which I, between the lines, perceive as something that should be evaluated more closely, at least before it is rolled out on a broad front. I think, of course, that one can follow up with civil society and the civil structures surrounding the gaming world on what can be done to further strengthen their position and opportunities to act preventively in this regard.

At the EU level, we have had a regulation regarding terror-related content for a few years now, which means that the police can, at most, order the removal of content on different platforms.

If one is to go further and also look at other content, which I personally think should be included in an open and bold political debate even if I myself am not ready to take a stand on it, my view is that the terms of use that exist at the more dominant social media platforms not only align with the legislation but also involve larger margins and safety distances from what is illegal and also what is inappropriate. I do not believe we can get around the fact that these platforms must, to an even greater extent than today, step forward, be offensive, and take responsibility. Perhaps they must even have a greater scope of action to apply legislation in an offensive way, if it occurs within a voluntary framework and with terms of use with offensive margins as a basis.

I therefore think it was important to speak with these platforms, which I did quite recently during the autumn. I know that corresponding discussions are held with the platforms at the EU level. I am open to seeing what emerges from these discussions. At the moment, I am not prepared to say that we should regulate further, but there is no doubt that the legitimacy of the regulation itself stands or falls with how proactive the platforms are when it comes to ensuring that illegal and extreme material is not spread.

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Mattias Vepsä (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you again, Minister, for an interesting answer! We certainly have reason to return to the discussion on how we should combat right-wing extremism online and in the gaming world.

As I explained in my opening remarks, it would be completely unacceptable if a situation prevailed at playgrounds, schoolyards, or in parks in Sweden where right-wing extremists stood and shouted hate or threats to every sixth visitor or tried to recruit children and young people into such environments. This is what we have to deal with online. As the Minister says, it is a matter of both seeing which legislative paths one might need to look at and increasing the collaborations that exist with the industry and within the EU, as well as when it comes to civil society's experiences.

With this, I would like to thank you for this debate. I look forward to a high pace of reform in this area. I believe that many of us in this chamber could step up in such legislative work.

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Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Madam Speaker! Thank you once again, Mattias Vepsä, for the question and the opportunity to discuss this together! My experience is that it is wise to discuss extremism from a broader perspective and realize which extreme movements influence and constitute a threat over a longer period. It is also important to highlight the right-wing extremism, especially in the way we do today, not least in relation to the gaming world, because we know that it is particularly present there.

If we broaden the perspective, we see far-right extremism, violent Islamism, and other extremist movements being very dominant and offensive in the digital environment. Sometimes they also support each other – this has been particularly noticeable regarding the antisemitic propaganda that has spread even more extensively in the last few months following the terror attack against Israel on October 7, where we can see that violent Islamists and the far-right in practice collaborate with hatred and threats directed towards Jews.

All of this, we as a society must build resilience against. A particularly important mission is, of course, as Mattias Vepsä also points out, to ensure safe and secure environments for children and young people, where they are protected from exposure to these types of dark forces.

I want to emphasize the industry's responsibility. The gaming industry must fundamentally offer contexts where these types of forces cannot gain traction. That being said, the entire surrounding society, from state to municipality and civil society, must also contribute in an offensive way. Let us return to each other on how this can be strengthened and developed forward.

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

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