Newswatch will be here in around ten minutes� hey, welcome to click. Hope youre doing 0k. This week, were going to be talking about Video Games, but not perhaps in the way that you might think. I dont know about you, lara, but my boy is now playing more games online with his friends, which means im starting to have to think about the type of games that he wants to play and who hes talking to online. Are you at that stage yet . No, were not there just yet. But im hoping that when the time comes, hes just into the nice, light hearted stuff. I really dont like shooting games. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And we do know that there are constant suspicions about links between violent games and violent people, and Thats Something that infuriates the gaming community. But thats not actually what were talking about this week. Were notjust talking about the playing of the games, but also the chat that goes on alongside them. Now, that can be within the games or on other Chat Platforms that gamers have open at the same time. And although a lot of the chat is about Gameplay Orjust talking to your mates, popular platforms have historically also played host to more sinister conversations and even become places to recruit people into extremist groups. We joined forces with a group of investigators whove been watching game streams and listening to the conversations happening in the Gaming World. And as Carl Miller explains, what they learned was a revelation. Today, were going to be exploring our Nazi Camp that we built. In fact, as ive been watching a spattering of games being played recently, ive been horrified to learn just what a fertile ground for Extremist Culture they can turn out to be. Mainstream games, as well as Indie And Custom made ones, have become places not only to play online, but spaces where like minded people meet, chat and posture. How about we try to win a Battle Royale across multiple games while chatting nationalism . This is mark collett, the founder of the white Nationalist Group patriotic alternative, talking to players on Call Of Duty. Its one of the many examples of what the team have come up with, representing just a taste of whats out there. Online gaming basically forms a means for people to connect over a shared hobby online. And this includes extremists, which can be really, really important in terms of advancing and furthering the Extremist Movement globally. Within these huge gaming platform, small but dedicated communities of extremists opportunistically use the chat, either built into the games or on sites popular with gamers to create a culture where extremist views can seem normal. Loser its not seig heiling, its not wearing swastikas or waving, you know, hitlerflags, its just like you do with your normal friends. You sit at home after school and you play games. And so i think the Gaming Element to it can create the sense that far right activism is just like any other activity that you enjoy. And of course, once youre in that world, then the radicalization can happen. Thats when all of a sudden youre starting to go to other meetings, just trying to go to smaller groups that arent necessarily playing games. But youre talking about politics more explicitly, like at least with cod, they havent totally bent over to this like strong female lead characters in every military shooter. Unlike the kind of wider Gaming World where the better you are gaming, the more prowess you get, in this space, its not necessarily that people are just really happy or excited to play a game with a famous far right figure. And so it kind of almost works the opposite way around. In these, the extreme right wing have potentially found safe harbors to broadcast their ideology or to engage in more traditional propagandizing, the sorts of things that they would have done a few years ago on facebook, youtube and twitter. The topics are all too familiar misogyny, Anti Semitism and homophobia. But all of this does go beyond just community building. The gamers can build whole spaces where their far right fantasies can come alive. These are small and not played by a huge amount of people. But what they do allow extremists to do is to sort of create custom made role playing experiences, for you to live out your radicalised fantasies online, to do things like run a Concentration Camp or participate in a Terrorist Attack. So do you guys think after hitler read the | diary of anne frank, he started checking the attic . Im sure Giggling Ggames which are set up, which allow you to fight against feminists or play as donald trump, you know, theyre sort of Dog Whistles or nudge, nudge, wink, wink, which advertise to other players that you might have a far right ideology. Although these numbers are small, the way it can play out is highly disturbing, such as the attack in christchurch, new zealand. The killer filmed the massacre with a camera strapped to his head, mimicking the point of View Shot of a Video Game and then streamed the whole thing online. And actually so much does it look like Call Of Duty that far right figures have taken that footage and around it theyve placed the elements of a computer game. While many of these are now hard to find, it shows how games can be used to memorialize Terrorist Attack and reflect the ideologies of the far right. The wall just got ten feet taller. This isnt a straightforward story of how games produce terrorists. What we do have here is something more complex and subtle than that. Its about how games can be spaces which allow extremist communities to be sustained and to develop, especially in the face of increased enforcement from places like Facebook And Twitter. This isntjust about culture, though, its also about money. New research suggests that Streaming Propaganda on platforms popular with gamers can be used by extremists to monetize their audiences. How about a shirt, though . Some of the ways that you can get money on the Video GameStreaming World is through sponsorships with advertising. And thats kind of more i traditional ways of Making Money the newer way is to take donations directly. So you kind of cut out the middleman, take their donations directly. From the people watching you. This is interesting in the far right space because theyre not usually playing. The Video Games themselves. So usuallyjust talking or maybe they have a game going in the background. But thats not really why were there. I really, the reason theyre there is to to talk politicsl and to convey hate speech, to incite violence, things like that. The more incendiary my speech, the more money im going to make, you can kind of dial up and down the rhetoric and money. Earn money. Im talking easily six figures by many of the creators that i looked at. So thinking about probably ten of them in particular, that were earning more than 50,000 a year, some of them more than 10,000 a month. Megans research on this world of extremist streamers centred on us based dlive, who say theyve stopped the monetization of extremist speech, but the Practice Isnt restricted to one platform or one region. We approached the companies about what they were doing to deal with extremist content. Some of the games featured here were removed after we contacted them and others have been taken down after being on the platform for a while. But a bigger issue still remains, and the responses that we did receive were all very similar. They all reiterated that they have Zero Tolerance policies against hate and violent extremism of any kind, and they all proactively try to find and remove any content that violates their community guidelines. So Gaming And Gaming platforms are being used by certain far right groups to make money, exert influence and build community. But the Big Question is how significant a threat this really is. Its so easy to turn around and say that this is, this is blown up, that this is, you know, exaggerated. And weve heard this before year after year that, you know, the threat of the far right isnt as big as everyone says is. The fact of the matter is, in the last three or four years, weve seen record numbers of terrorism arrests from the far right in the uk. Weve seen huge increased numbers in terms of young people and young far right groupings existing in the uk, many of which engage in gaming. And i think that thats probably one of the concerning trends which were seeing of gaming, right . Its just another avenue to easily reach young people, potentially vulnerable people, i to some of the most dangerous and violent ideologies which are which are l being spread currently. Any idea that these things are kind of overblown is a luxury. And id love it to be true. But the truth of the matter is far right politics kills people and it recruits people and it ruins peoples lives. And gaming is an element of which the far right using to do that right now. Carl, as always, an excellent investigation, thank you so much. That was a really difficult watch, i have to say, and my heart sinks that this stuff makes it so easily online. Is there is there any way of controlling this kind of thing . These are huge platforms. Theres all kinds of activities that happen on there. The vast majority of their use is completely benign. And it can be really overwhelming for any company really to try and accurately and reliably spot when theyre being misused in the ways that our programme highlights. Cant the platforms, whether its the Gaming Ones or the chat ones, Actuallyjust Look Out for trigger words . You can have a huge talk about hitler without anyone being radicalized. And Theres Plenty of radicalization that happens without mentioning hitler or really other kinds of like trigger word, Extremist Phrases as well. So you know that its never as simple as simply looking for the presence of some words within chats. Some of the companies that we saw in your report, like roadblocks and minecraft, are big. Theyve got money. Why are they not able to help themselves . All technology companies, whether its roadblocks or facebook is kind of walking this kind of balancing act. 0n the one hand, youve got the kind of embarrassment and the harm from that platforms being misused on the other, the kind of Cost And Difficulty in enforcing it. And theyre all going to kind of arrive at some kind of weird point of least pain in the middle there where they kind of balance the kind of like the costs on the one side and the kind of public risks on the other. And i think currently right now itsjust less visible that this kind of stuff is happening on the gaming platforms. Theyve just had less embarrassment and less public exposure around it. Karl, thanks very much for covering this story for us, and thats it for the short cut of click for this week. The full Length Version is, of course, waiting for you right now on iplayer. As ever, you can keep up with a team on social media, find us on youtube, instagram, Facebook And Twitter bbcclick. Thanks for watching, bye bye. Hello and welcome to newswatch. Why was the Bbc Reporter who had been working in russia for 20 years expelled from the country . And what does Sarah Rainsfords Departure mean for the future of the bbc� s reporting in russia . First, its been a week of comings and goings with boris johnsons long awaited Shake Up of his ministerial Team Taking Place on wednesday. The News Channel was following that frenzied excitement in westminster throughout the day. The Prime Minister is re shuffling his top team of government ministers. In the past few minutes, the former Trade Secretary has been appointed to foreign secretary. The first woman to hold the role. But that distinction of being the first female secretary, repeated on the following Morning Today Programme and elsewhere, actually belongs to labour� s margaret beckett. George added. Wednesday also saw a departure from bbc news, liz stepped away from the Breakfast Sofa after presenting the programme for 20 years. Herfinal show is marked by applause on her arrival, tributes from stars and a crowd of colleagues wearing masks. 0f herface. Haha, you youre so sweet thank you, guys. Thank you. You are so sweet. Would you like to take off that blindfold and say hello . Applause that is really strange, hi, me. Michael here, just wanted to wish you the biggest i of loves and to say that im going to miss you on that l sofa, one of the only. Things that could get me through getting up so blooming early it was knowing i was going to see your face. It was all too much for this person who e mailed. Julie edwards spoke for many when she wrote