Dear John,

A wave of harassment of youths playing online multiplayer games reveals a disturbing trend that also affects an estimated 81 million American adults, according to an important new survey of online gaming released by ADL’s Center for Technology and Society.

The survey results show that 60 percent of teens ages 13-17, and 83 percent of adults 18-45, report being harassed while participating in online multiplayer games in the past 6 months.

What kinds of abuse are most common?

For the third year in a row, gender was the most frequently cited reason for abuse experienced by adults, and overall, the largest increase in identity-based harassment occurred among women.

Other high rates of harassment were reported by adult gamers who identified as Jewish, Black or African American, Asian American, LGBTQ+ or Muslim in the survey.

The survey also revealed that extremist messages continue to be a concern in online games: One in 10 young gamers and 8 percent of adult gamers surveyed were exposed to white supremacist ideologies. “Time and again, we’ve seen that white supremacists and other extremists use online gaming platforms not only to harass their targets, but they also use online gaming platforms as a forum for recruitment,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt warned.

Less than 40 percent of parents or guardians of young people surveyed reported implementing safety controls in online multiplayer games; our report’s recommendations section provides important steps that all caregivers and educators should consider, especially for younger gamers. We are calling for improvements from the games industry, civil society and the government, and our report spells out steps they should take to reduce hateful content and harassing behavior in online games. These recommendations align with ADL’s REPAIR Plan to fight online hate and extremism.

By allowing this harassment of young people to continue, we risk teens feeling that they should be ashamed of who they are. That message is completely unacceptable, and online gaming platforms have a responsibility to do better.

Thank you for joining us in speaking out for a safer online world.