Ottawa announces funding to study links to ‘violent extremism’ in video games

The federal government announced Wednesday funding of more than $300,000 to examine how gaming communities can potentially create environments conducive to radicalization and violent extremism.

Through gender-based analysis, the study aims to look at how identities are formed for both individuals and groups of gamers, investigating how misogyny can connect violent extremist ideologies across geography and culture, a news release from Public Safety Canada said.

The funding will go to the Royal United Services Institute, described as “one of the United Kingdom’s leading defence and security think tanks.” It will partner with an international initiative called the Extremism and Gaming Research Network, which aims to “tackle the misuse of video games by extremist actors,” the news release says.

Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc says supporting initiatives like this is key to keeping Canadians safe.

“The research done by Royal United Services Institute and the Extremism and Gaming Research Network will help strengthen Canada’s resilience, and increase our capacity to identify and prevent radicalization to violence,” LeBlanc said in a statement.

The funding is provided through the Community Resilience Fund, which is led by the Public Safety department’s Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence, also known as the Canada Centre.

The Community Resilience Fund provides financial support to organizations working to improve Canada’s efforts to combat violent extremism, the news release says.

Dr. Jessica White and Galen Lamphere-Englund, the project leads from the Royal United Services Institute, say they seek to “better protect games from exploitation by those spreading targeted hate-based discrimination and extremism.”

“Our project partners look forward to strengthening Canada’s resilience by contributing to violence prevention strategies, especially tailored for gaming spaces,” White and Lamphere-Englund said in the news release.