Australia wants to know how Valve is combating 'extreme-right communities' on Steam
Valve risks fines of up to AU$825,000 a day if it fails to respond to a transparency notice issued to it by the Australian government's eSafety Commissioner. According to a statement released by the regulator, Steam is "reportedly a hub for a number of extreme-right communities", and must explain to Australia how it is "identifying, preventing and responding to these harms".
Valve isn't the only gaming organisation under fire: Roblox, Microsoft (for Minecraft), and Epic Games (for Fortnite) have all been served transparency notices as well.
"We’ve seen numerous media reports about grooming taking place on all four of these platforms as well as terrorist and violent extremist-themed gameplay," eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said. "This includes Islamic State-inspired games and recreations of mass shootings on Roblox, as well as far right groups recreating fascist imagery in Minecraft.
"Media reports have also pointed to games in Fortnite gamifying the horrific events of the WWII Jasenovac concentration camp and the January 6th US Capitol Building riots, while Steam is reportedly a hub for a number of extreme-right communities."
I've reached out to Valve for comment and will update if I hear back.
The notice has been served by the same Australian government organisation responsible for forming new Age-Restricted Material Codes which, in theory, require age verification measures to be implemented to prevent under-18s accessing adult material. While that rule has been in force since March not everyone has implemented it, despite the threat of penalties "up to AU$49.5 million". Steam hasn't implemented any such measures. Nor has Rockstar, according to AFR, though Sony is in the process of rolling them out.
Sony is using Yoti for its age verification checks; other platforms, like Roblox but also Substack, use Persona, which has ties to Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel. As I've written before, keeping children from accessing adult material is important, but surrendering personal information—including photo ID—to third-party companies is a legitimate privacy concern.
Still, the eSafety Commissioner isn't interested in how these things are done, only that they're done.
It's certainly not the first time Valve has faced criticism for allegedly allowing extremist material on Steam. A US senator took Gabe Newell to task for it in 2022, and yet another US senator did the same in 2024, deeming Steam an "unsafe place for teens and young adults".