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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 9, 2025

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses

Published on: September 28, 2018

Extremist identity creation through performative infighting on Steam.

Alex Bradley Newhouse¹, Rachel Kowert²

¹Department of Political Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States.

Frontiers in Psychology

|August 28, 2025

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Far-right extremist groups are using the Steam platform to build radicalized networks and spread hateful content. This online activity poses immediate risks to gamers and developers, and broader societal safety concerns.

Keywords:

extremism far-right social media social network analysis video games (psychology)

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Last Updated: Sep 9, 2025

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The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test

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Published on: November 19, 2015

Area of Science:

Social network analysis
Online radicalization studies
Digital sociology

Background:

Steam's social features have been co-opted by neo-fascist and neo-Nazi groups over the last five years.
These extremist communities utilize Steam groups and user networks for socialization and identity formation.
Hateful and violent content is shared within these insular networks and spread to public forums like game reviews.

Purpose of the Study:

To analyze the structure and characteristics of far-right extremist networks on the Steam platform.
To investigate the extent of collective radicalization and mobilization within these online communities.
To assess the risks posed by these activities to users and social safety.

Main Methods:

Utilized open-source data for analysis.
Employed scaled social network analysis techniques.
Examined user interactions, group formations, and content dissemination patterns.

Main Results:

Identified large-scale socialization and identity creation networks used by extremist groups on Steam.
Observed the sharing of hateful and violent content within these networks.
Demonstrated characteristics of collective radicalization and mobilization within the far-right ecosystem on Steam.

Conclusions:

The far-right has established a significant presence on Steam, fostering radicalization and mobilization.
These online activities present immediate dangers to gamers and developers.
The long-term implications include risks to broader social safety and the integrity of online communities.