Europol supported eight countries in identifying and eliminating racist and xenophobic propaganda shared on gaming platforms. The referral action day, involving Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom, led to the referral of thousands of URLs leading to dangerous and illegal online material.

Carried out on 13 November 2025, this operational action by the European Union Internet Referral Unit (EU IRU) involved the referral of thousands of URLs leading to dangerous and illegal online material. This includes about 5,408 links to jihadist content, 1,070 links to violent right-wing extremist and terrorist content, and 105 links to racist and xenophobic content.

This joint action highlights the complexity of addressing terrorist, racist and xenophobic online content on gaming and gaming-adjacent platforms. The processes of creation and dissemination are layered and often involve multiple platforms. For example, content can be recorded within an online game (or its chat function), altered with violent extremist jargon, suggestive emojis, chants or music and then disseminated on a conventional social media platform.

During the weeks leading up to the action day, the participating experts examined various platforms widely used by youngsters and adults. Users of these gaming and streaming platforms may encounter a variety of dangerous and violent content.

For example, perpetrators recreate terrorist attacks, school shootings or execution scenes in a 3D game, edit the video with chants or suggestive emojis and disseminate it on various commonly used social media platforms for an even wider reach. Other gaming-related platforms intended for game streaming are misused to recruit minors into various violent extremist and terrorist groups or to livestream actual attacks and even suicides.

The target content during the referral action day was found on various types of platforms. Some allow players to broadcast their gameplay in real time and interact with their community via live chat, while others add on-demand videos. Illegal content was also identified on community platforms intended to facilitate the exchange of tips, news and discussions about video games. Lastly, there are hybrid or specialised platforms that combine streaming, community functions and game purchase options. Many accounts on these platforms may not be immediately recognisable as being linked to problematic content, while some even feature usernames and profile pictures with references to infamous terrorists.

EU IRU’s prevention activities are centred around three key areas: monitoring and analysis of online terrorist content, referrals and public-private partnerships. The forthcoming Transparency Report highlights activities carried out in these areas in 2024 and summarises the Unit’s efforts to reduce public access to terrorist content online. In addition, the report describes the activities of the EU IRU in support of the implementation of the Regulation on addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online.

This action day came about as a result of law enforcement authorities across Europe observing that a variety of gaming and gaming-adjacent platforms were being misused as venues for radicalising and disseminating terrorist content online. This abuse is also reflected in various investigations supported by Europol’s European Counter-Terrorism Centre. Prior to this action day, Europol experts organised several operational meetings and facilitated the exchange of operational information and best practices among the participating countries.

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