Technique T0155.003: Approval Gated Asset

Summary: An Approval Gated Asset is an online asset which requires approval from Administrator Accounts for access to the asset.

Examples include Online Community Groups on Facebook, which can be configured to require questions and approval before access, and Accounts on Social Media Platforms such as Instagram, which allow users to set their accounts as visible to approved friends only.
Belongs to tactic stage: TA07

Incident	Descriptions given for this incident
I00105 Gaming the System: The Use of Gaming-Adjacent Communication, Game and Mod Platforms by Extremist Actors	In this report, researchers look at online platforms commonly used by people who play videogames, looking at how these platforms can contribute to radicalisation of gamers: Gamer Uprising Forums (GUF) [is an online discussion platform using the classic forum structure] aimed directly at gamers. It is run by US Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin and explicitly targets politically right-wing gamers. This forum mainly includes antisemitic, sexist, and racist topics, but also posts on related issues such as esotericism, conspiracy narratives, pro-Russian propaganda, alternative medicine, Christian religion, content related to the incel- and manosphere, lists of criminal offences committed by non-white people, links to right-wing news sites, homophobia and trans-hostility, troll guides, anti-leftism, ableism and much more. Most noticeable were the high number of antisemitic references. For example, there is a thread with hundreds of machine-generated images, most of which feature openly antisemitic content and popular antisemitic references. Many users chose explicitly antisemitic avatars. Some of the usernames also provide clues to the users’ ideologies and profiles feature swastikas as a type of progress bar and indicator of the user’s activity in the forum. The GUF’s front page contains an overview of the forum, user statistics, and so-called “announcements”. In addition to advice-like references, these feature various expressions of hateful ideologies. At the time of the exploration, the following could be read there: “Jews are the problem!”, “Women should be raped”, “The Jews are going to be required to return stolen property”, “Immigrants will have to be physically removed”, “Console gaming is for n******” and “Anger is a womanly emotion”. New users have to prove themselves in an area for newcomers referred to in imageboard slang as the “Newfag Barn”. Only when the newcomers’ posts have received a substantial number of likes from established users, are they allowed to post in other parts of the forum. It can be assumed that this will also lead to competitions to outdo each other in posting extreme content. However, it is always possible to view all posts and content on the site. In any case, it can be assumed that the platform hardly addresses milieus that are not already radicalised or at risk of radicalisation and is therefore deemed relevant for radicalisation research. However, the number of registered users is low (typical for radicalised milieus) and, hence, the platform may only be of interest when studying a small group of highly radicalised individuals. Gamer Uprising Forum is a legacy online forum, with access gated behind approval of existing platform users (T0155.003: Approval Gated Asset, T0151.009: Legacy Online Forum Platform).

Incident

Descriptions given for this incident

I00105 Gaming the System: The Use of Gaming-Adjacent Communication, Game and Mod Platforms by Extremist Actors

In this report, researchers look at online platforms commonly used by people who play videogames, looking at how these platforms can contribute to radicalisation of gamers:

Gamer Uprising Forums (GUF) [is an online discussion platform using the classic forum structure] aimed directly at gamers. It is run by US Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin and explicitly targets politically right-wing gamers. This forum mainly includes antisemitic, sexist, and racist topics, but also posts on related issues such as esotericism, conspiracy narratives, pro-Russian propaganda, alternative medicine, Christian religion, content related to the incel- and manosphere, lists of criminal offences committed by non-white people, links to right-wing news sites, homophobia and trans-hostility, troll guides, anti-leftism, ableism and much more. Most noticeable were the high number of antisemitic references. For example, there is a thread with hundreds of machine-generated images, most of which feature openly antisemitic content and popular antisemitic references. Many users chose explicitly antisemitic avatars. Some of the usernames also provide clues to the users’ ideologies and profiles feature swastikas as a type of progress bar and indicator of the user’s activity in the forum.

The GUF’s front page contains an overview of the forum, user statistics, and so-called “announcements”. In addition to advice-like references, these feature various expressions of hateful ideologies. At the time of the exploration, the following could be read there: “Jews are the problem!”, “Women should be raped”, “The Jews are going to be required to return stolen property”, “Immigrants will have to be physically removed”, “Console gaming is for n******” and “Anger is a womanly emotion”. New users have to prove themselves in an area for newcomers referred to in imageboard slang as the “Newfag Barn”. Only when the newcomers’ posts have received a substantial number of likes from established users, are they allowed to post in other parts of the forum. It can be assumed that this will also lead to competitions to outdo each other in posting extreme content. However, it is always possible to view all posts and content on the site. In any case, it can be assumed that the platform hardly addresses milieus that are not already radicalised or at risk of radicalisation and is therefore deemed relevant for radicalisation research. However, the number of registered users is low (typical for radicalised milieus) and, hence, the platform may only be of interest when studying a small group of highly radicalised individuals.

Gamer Uprising Forum is a legacy online forum, with access gated behind approval of existing platform users (T0155.003: Approval Gated Asset, T0151.009: Legacy Online Forum Platform).

Counters	Response types

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Technique T0155.003: Approval Gated Asset

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