GEMS: An EU-funded project tackling radicalisation in online gaming spaces

Some of the world’s most popular video games are being exploited to radicalise young people. In some cases, gaming-related platforms have become an unlikely setting for recruitment by terrorist and violent extremist groups and other illegal activities online.   

The EU-funded GEMS project (Gaming Ecosystem as a Multilayered Security Threat) examines how vulnerable individuals are identified and recruited in online gaming spaces. It has also developed an AI-supported moderation tool to detect extremist activity across the diverse world of gaming and interrupt recruitment attempts in real time. Led by Trinity College, this system could become a valuable tool for law enforcement agencies in Europe and beyond.  

Watchtower was designed to support law enforcement analysts in monitoring public online chat platforms such as YouTube Live, Twitch, Reddit, Discord and other gaming and gaming-adjacent chats.  

The system is currently being tested under operational conditions and refined in cooperation with the Irish police and other European law enforcement partners, allowing officers to evaluate the tool directly on real public data. 

As such, gaming and gaming-adjacent spaces can serve as a ground for early grooming and as a filtering stage before the pre-selected users are redirected elsewhere, such as less moderated or more encrypted platforms and apps. Recruitment can involve a gradual shift from casual participation to deeper ideological engagement and may include movement to other online spaces. With human oversight, Watchtower can help recognise (violent) extremist presence in the gaming ecosystem and help interrupt recruitment attempts in real time.