Europol and partner countries combat online radicalisation on gaming platforms

Europol supported eight countries in identifying and removing racist and xenophobic propaganda shared on gaming and gaming-related platforms. The Referral Action Day, involving Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, led to the referral of thousands of URLs leading to dangerous and illicit online material.

Conducted 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 illicit online material. This includes around 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 tackling terrorist, racist and xenophobic content online on gaming and gaming-adjacent platforms. Creation and dissemination processes are layered and often affect several platforms. For instance, content may 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 mainstream social media platform.

Read more: Europol