The hearing, run by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, will revolve around “extreme radicalisation” online - according to committee chairman James Comer - as it hopes to investigate how platforms online contribute to the incitement of “violent and politically motivated acts”.
Discord has responded to Congress cooperatively, saying it “look[s] forward to continuing this important dialogue”, whereas Reddit has responded by condemning violence, but claiming no evidence of Tyler Robinson having an active account on the site.
Congress says its reason for these platforms in particular being selected for scrutiny is that they are “platforms that radicals have used to advance political violence”. Despite these sites being created with the intention of being used by gamers and for the protection of online privacy, they’ve frequently come under fire for also appearing to act as hosts for extremist behaviour to thrive.
Reddit has responded by condemning violence, but claiming no evidence of Tyler Robinson having an active account on the site.
Discord and Steam in particular have been linked to shooter suspect Robinson’s online behaviour, with him appearing to confess to the shooting on Discord, as well as deriving a reference on his engraved bullet casings from Helldivers 2, a game available to play through Steam.
The possibility of video games causing violence has long permeated discourse around internet usage, with studies continually being conducted and updated in response to renewed requests for information regarding the subject - though despite this, there is no clear answer yet as to whether there is a significant link or not.
The American Psychological Association (APA) has come fourth multiple times to reaffirm its stance that there is insufficient evidence to claim that there is a relationship between video games and behaviour more aggressive than “yelling and pushing”. And, despite there being other evidence to say that there is a relationship, the Radicalisation Awareness Network released a paper suggesting that violent and extremist behaviour is encouraged more by the use of “gaming adjacent platforms” - Discord and Steam for example - as opposed to the games themselves.
The platforms agreeing to the hearing are being asked to provide written testimonies on 6 October, before the hearing commences on October 8th.