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submitted 2 days ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to c/gaming@beehaw.org

In the letter, Democrat senator Mark Warner argues that Valve's content moderation doesn't meet industry standards, and says he wants Valve to "crack down on the rampant proliferation of hate-based content".

The exact hateful stuff he's talking about was highlighted in that report by the Anti-Defamation League last week. Its many findings include swastikas in profile pictures, antisemitic images such as the "happy merchant", and instances of Pepe the frog, a meme appropriated by the far right that - let's be honest - has never washed the stink off. Steam is "inundated with hate" as a result of these findings, say the anti-discrimination group.

While the simmering bubbles of fascism won't be news to the average Steam user (or average internet user, to be frank) that doesn't mean we ought to get complacent about them. It's proof, says senator Warner, that Valve is lacking good moderation.

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[-] Crotaro@beehaw.org 28 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Swastikas, okay. Happy merchant, sure. But how is Pepe an alt right symbol now? I read half of an article about it which seems to conclude that it depends on the context the meme is being used in. If it's by a nazi in their username, it's a nazi symbol, wow. To me this feels like "serial killers often ate bread for breakfast, so all of Germany is now a dogwhistle for serial killers."

[-] Bougie_Birdie 26 points 2 days ago

Pepe has been sensationalized for a while now in the media as being a hate symbol. I think it's because you see it largely on 4chan which traditional media demonizes.

I'm not on 4chan, but it seems like it has similar problems to Steam: a large userbase and poor content moderation gives insufferable people a platform to spread hate from. These problems aren't unique to either platform, but the news likes to latch on to them.

I hate that some people consider Pepe to be a hate symbol. He's just an expressive frog, dang it

[-] TimLovesTech@badatbeing.social 19 points 2 days ago

I guess I've been out of the loop for pre-hate Pepe (pre-2016), but the only reason I know of him at all is because of all the Nazi/Quon/KKK folks blasting him all over Twitter and everywhere else. I've always assumed everyone knew since it's been almost a decade, and anyone using him these days is doing so in bad faith.

[-] einkorn@feddit.org 17 points 2 days ago

Pepe was and always has been a neutral meme figure. And I'm not going to let some fking nazis take my meme frog!

[-] averyminya@beehaw.org 12 points 2 days ago

Pepe was a neutral meme. He is not anymore.

https://beehaw.org/comment/4105872

The sad reality is that he is a politicized figuredhead for fascism. You can try and use him, but you need to be aware of how others use him, and it will end up reflecting more poorly on you than it will help reclaiming him.

I suggest looking the links on my comment linked, but at the very least on your own look up, "Pepe meme Putin", and "was Pepe at January 6th". People are using him to storm the capitol and dressing him up in an iron cross to assassinate political figures. That's not just casual memes :(

I say this as someone who grew up with his era of memes (my first memes were icanhazcheezeburger which was the precursor to RageFu). I remember his good days too man.

But Pepe got Alex Jonesed. He got assaulted by the MAGA cult and they put him on a cross like Jesus and now he's dying for their sins. I don't think we can save him.

[-] fushuan@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago

Clown pepe has beren used for hare, vyt all the other ones not really. It's used in twitch widely just for the happy frog it is.

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this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2024
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