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US Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) has sent a letter to Valve CEO Gabe Newell<\/a> asking if the company intends to take measures to curtail extremist content on Steam. The letter references a report by the Anti-Defamation League<\/a> that identified a large number of user accounts and user-created groups \u201cthat glorified antisemitic, Nazi, <\/strong>white supremacist, gender- and sexuality-based hate, and other extremist ideologies\u201d on the PC gaming platform. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The letter features a high-level view of the kind of hateful content the ADL found on Steam. That includes \u201c40,000 groups with names that included hateful words, with the most prominent being \u20181488,\u2019 \u2018shekel,\u2019 and \u2018white power\u2019.\u201d Warner\u2019s letter highlights how the apparent preponderance of hateful content on Steam is in violation of the platform\u2019s own online conduct policy<\/a>, which explicitly prohibits \u201cencouraging real-world violence\u201d and posting or uploading \u201cillegal or inappropriate content.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt is reasonable to question how committed Valve is to effectively implement and enforce Valve\u2019s own, self-created Conduct Policy for its users,\u201d the letter reads.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Content moderation has long been an issue for Steam. Valve only implemented moderation of its video game discussion boards in 2018<\/a> after previously leaving the responsibility to the developers themselves. Warner\u2019s letter is the third sent by Congress to Valve over the last three<\/a> years<\/a> asking the company to answer for the extremist content that has proliferated on Steam. So far, Valve has not publicly responded to these letters. And though Warner\u2019s letter threatens Valve with \u201cmore intense scrutiny from the federal government\u201d if it fails to take meaningful action against hate content, <\/strong>First Amendment protections prevent the government from punishing companies for hosting legal \u2014\u00a0albeit hateful \u2014 speech.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Warner\u2019s letter to Valve concludes with a list of questions about the company\u2019s current enforcement practices, the size of its moderation team, and what steps it\u2019ll take in the future to limit hateful content. Warner has asked for a response no later than December 13th. Valve has not responded to The Verge<\/em>\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n