Bledar Feta, a P/CVE Research Fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), presented GEMS project in the EU-HYBNET fourth Annual Workshop, organized by the EU-HYBNET network in Valencia, Spain on April 24, 2024. The EU-HYBNET is a Pan-European network of security practitioners, stakeholders, academics, industry players, and SME actors across EU collaborating with each other to counter hybrid threats.

The event managed to gather the main national and European entities on countering hybrid threats as well as representatives of different projects that provides innovative solutions on security-related topics. As part of his presentation, Bledar Feta provided a pitch on the work that GEMS project is doing to tackle the pressing issue of extremist exploitation within the gaming ecosystem. He explained that GEMS project fully aligns with the objectives of Horizon Europe’s Cluster 3 which focuses on addressing the challenge posed by persistent security threats, including cybercrime, with a particular emphasis on the misuse of gaming environment.

He also underlined the approach of GEMS to deal with key challenges. According to Feta, GEMS project is generating significant knowledge through empirical research with gamers and gaming communities as well as through the assessment of online gaming platforms, covering the need for a comprehensive understanding of gaming, particularly in its relations to extremism. Feta explained that this knowledge and understanding will be used to design effective interventions with the help of AI. The development of Watchtower, a cutting-edge AI platform, will offer a practical tool for recognizing and preventing the spread of extremist content in online gaming spaces.

At the end of his presentation, Feta supported that extremist activity in digital gaming spaces is a complex challenge and as such it requires a coordination among the relevant actors and a shared understanding of the phenomenon. GEMS is moving towards this direction through the establishment of the European Networks against Gaming-Related Extremism (ENgaGE), a cross-sectoral collaborative networks dedicated to counter extremist presence in the gaming ecosystem, empowering Safer Gamers for Safer Societies.

You can learn more about the GEMS project and its objectives here and here

For more information on the EU-HYBNET/Pan-European Network to Counter Hybrid Threats click here