ADL Releases ‘Leaderboard’ Ranking Popular Video Games and Their Efforts to Combat Antisemitism
“Fortnite,” a game accessed by over 25 million users a day, being played on a mobile phone. Photo: Public Domain
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released on Wednesday an Online Gaming Leaderboard that ranks popular video games on how effectively their policies and in-game safety features curb antisemitism, hatred, and extremism in their online multiplayer games.
The video games were ranked based on their “advanced,” “moderate,” or “limited” protections. The assessment was made using criteria, assembled by the ADL, that examine policies to prevent antisemitism and hate (40 percent of the score) and in-game tooling to prevent antisemitism and hate (60 percent of the score).
Fortnite was rated the best at implementing safeguards to combat antisemitism, following by Call of Duty, Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto Online, Roblox, Madden NFL, Valorent, Clash Royale, Counter-Strike 2, and PUBG: Battlegrounds.
The ADL said it has conducted the first-ever detailed public evaluation of video games and how their safety measures address the issues of antisemitism, hate, and extremism in online gaming environments. The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) provides age and content guidance but does not assess what video game companies are doing to keep players safe from hate and harassment during their online gaming experience.
The Online Gaming Leaderboard was co-produced by the ADL Center for Technology and Society (CTS) and the Ratings and Assessments Institute (RAI). The former, in partnership with gaming analytics firm NewZoo, surveyed hate, harassment, and extremism in online games in the US from 2019 to 2023 and those findings provided “the foundation for the evaluation,” according to the ADL.
“When a parent wants to know if an online game is safe for their child, there has been no one-stop shop to understand how a particular game approaches online safety,” said Daniel Kelley, senior director of CTS. “This leaderboard addresses that critical gap by offering the most comprehensive evaluation of safety measures in online multiplayer games to date, with a focus on how companies manage antisemitism and extremism.”
“Without strong safeguards, these platforms can become breeding grounds for harassment and hateful activity that harms players directly, normalizes hateful ideologies and damages trust,” added Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive officer of the ADL. “This leaderboard provides the transparency that parents, gamers, and the industry need to understand where companies are succeeding and where urgent improvements are necessary.”
The ADL said it privately shared its findings with each gaming company before publicly releasing the Online Gaming Leaderboard on Wednesday. Some companies “engaged with ADL to clarify issues or make improvements to their policies and tooling, while others did not respond.” The ADL also developed a Best Practices Guide for gaming companies that provides strategies for how they can better combat antisemitism and hate.