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German media regulator slams Valve for not handling Steam Nazi users and groups

German media regulator slams Valve for not handling Steam Nazi users and groups

PC games giant Valve has come under fire from German regulator Media Agency Hamburg/Schleswig Holstein (MA HSH).

The organisation announced earlier in the week that the Steam firm was in violation of German law in hosting several Nazi user profiles, wallpapers and groups on its platform. One example that MA HSH cited was a group calling for the death of all Jews. Delightful!

Said content has been removed, but it does once again show the issues with Valve being reactive rather than pro-active with how it moderates content. The company has come under fire in the past for hosting hate groups, with Vice reporting on the topic back in 2017 before the Steam firm removing these last year.

Germany has strict youth protection laws - FOR OBVIOUS REASONS - that moderate content in relation to its rather dark recent history. Local regulator USK has lifted this restriction in recent years, with games featuring Nazi symbology such as swastikas being allowed.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.