Feedback from: Working Group on Gaming and Regulation at NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights
December 2024
This submission provides feedback to the European Commission on its draft Delegated Regulation on data access under the Digital Services Act (DSA), focusing on the implications for online gaming platforms. While not explicitly referenced in the DSA, gaming platforms fall within its scope as hosting services, with some qualifying as online platforms and potentially as very large online platforms (VLOPs). These platforms play dual roles as sources of entertainment and socialization, but can also provide venues for various types of harm, including dissemination of hate speech, harassment, grooming, and extremist radicalization. The social dimension of online games blurs the boundaries between gaming and traditional social media. Features like user-generated content, matchmaking, and in-game communication channels make games arenas for both positive social interaction and significant systemic risks. However, understanding these risks is hindered by limited access to platform data. This submission identifies critical challenges and opportunities for a responsible data access regime, balancing research needs, privacy concerns, and the unique features of gaming environments.
Key systemic risks in gaming include:
- Illegal Content: Online games host illegal activities such as hate speech and child sexual abuse material.
- Fundamental Rights Violations: Online games are exploited by violent extremists, with implications for the right to life and non-discrimination. Some games also undermine players right to privacy and autonomy through manipulative designs and extractive personal data practices.
- Civic Discourse, Electoral Processes, and Public Security: Games are exploited for extremist propaganda, recruitment, and disinformation. Features like user-generated content facilitate the spread of extremist hate-based ideologies, with documented cases linking gaming environments to real-world violence and radicalization.
- Gender-Based Violence, Public Health, and Well-Being: Identity-based harassment, doxxing, and manipulative monetization practices disproportionately harm women, LGBTQIA+ players, and children, affecting mental health, equality, and consumer protection. To mitigate these risks and enhance accountability, independent research is essential. However, the gaming ecosystem presents unique challenges for data access. Unlike social media, gaming platforms often process ephemeral content, such as real-time communications and in-game behaviors, which is not stored long-term.
This submission outlines researchers data access needs, including:
- Persistent Data: User account information and user-generated spaces should be accessible via APIs to facilitate large-scale trend analysis.
- Ephemeral Data: Real-time text and voice communications and gameplay data are critical for understanding in-game interactions but require robust privacy safeguards and some consideration of technical and financial constraints.
- Moderation and Enforcement Data: Platforms should provide detailed reports on moderation actions, systemic risk assessments, and mitigation strategies.
- Systemic risk assessment data: Data on persuasive design practices and targeted advertising, particularly regarding children, would help evaluate economic exploitation risks.
- Experimentation Data: Platforms product testing results could reveal systemic risks tied to specific design features. The submission proposes mechanisms for ensuring secure, privacy-compliant data access, including encrypted data sharing, anonymization, and collaboration between researchers and platforms to address technical and cost-related challenges. By establishing a balanced, well-regulated data access framework, the European Commission can advance systemic risk research and mitigation in online gaming, fostering safer, more accountable digital environments.
This information was sourced from the official website of the European Union. See the original webpage here:
Feedback from: Working Group on Gaming and Regulation at NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights
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