Authorities from 16 countries have flagged more than 9,000 links to violent extremist and terrorist content found in online gaming and social media platforms.
The operation — coordinated by Europol’s European Union Internet Referral Unit (EU IRU) together with Spain — focused on violent extremist and terrorist live action role-playing, known as LARPing, in online gaming environments, Europol informed on Tuesday.
The links referred involved material promoting jihadist, right-wing, left-wing and anarchist violent extremism and terrorism, and were spread across 47 social media and gaming platforms.
The content was produced and shared by individuals, groups, networks and organisations using online role-playing to promote extremist and terrorist narratives.
How role-playing in games is being used
These online communities recreate the structures, narratives and symbols of terrorist organisations inside video games, and can role-play as members of those groups or reenact attacks, Europol said.
It declared that such activity can develop into coordinated efforts to produce and distribute propaganda and recruit new members and followers, including young people and minors.
The EU IRU brought together specialised national units to identify the material and refer it to the platforms hosting it.
The agency said the action followed a similar referral day in 2025 and forms part of an ongoing programme targeting different types of extremist and terrorist propaganda online.
The exploitation of online gaming for extremist and terrorist purposes is referenced in Europol’s EU TE-SAT 2026 report and in the European Commission’s ProtectEU agenda published in 2026.
