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Reformed Neo-Nazi reveals how White Supremacists use FORTNITE to radicalise kids

Skinhead-leader turned peace activist Christian Picciolini revealed in a chat with Reddit users the nefarious means far-right groups go to recruit

FAR-RIGHT groups are using online games such as Fortnite to radicalise kids and recruit them into their organisations, according to one reformed neo-Nazi.

Speaking about his time as a "white supremacist leader", skinhead turned peace activist Christian Picciolini explained how his group "sought marginalised youth and promised them 'paradise'."

 Christian Picciolini was drawn into far-right groups as a 14-year-old, but later founded a charity called Life After Hate
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Christian Picciolini was drawn into far-right groups as a 14-year-old, but later founded a charity called Life After HateCredit: Alamy

Answering readers' questions on Internet forum Reddit, Picciolini made it clear that this is still happening today, through "nefarious tactics like going to depression and mental health forums, and in multiplayer gaming, to recruit those same people."

"They drop benign hints and then ramp up when hooked," he explained. In some games these hints can start by talking about how some in-game races are superior to others, for example, and move on from there to drawing real-world 'parallels'.

When asked what games these groups used, Picciolini said "Fortnite, Minecraft, COD, all of them."

The people involved in recruitment in these games are "mostly foreign recruiters from Russia and eastern Europe," according to Picciolini. These international intitiatives are "somewhat" co-ordinated, he says.

 The unintentional fascist symbol was slated for immediate removal
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The unintentional fascist symbol was slated for immediate removalCredit: EPIC/Eubestcityeu/Reddit
 When dropping into a game of Fortnite, could you really be dropping into a much more dangerous world than you previously imagined?
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When dropping into a game of Fortnite, could you really be dropping into a much more dangerous world than you previously imagined?

Many fringe gaming-related groups are tied to the far-right, with the misogynistic 'gamergate' movement the best known thanks to its ties to the alt-right.

It's also not Fortnite's first brush with Nazi controversy. Developer Epic Games was forced into action last week, when players discovered some of the game's floor tiles contained swastikas.

It's not the first time the internet or online gaming has been implicated in such radicalisation. ISIS was found to be using a spelling app to radicalise British kids last year, and extremists targeted kids as young as 14 using YouTube with a message that jihad was better than football.

Have you ever come across any behaviour in online games that you think could have been radicals hoping to turn you into a blood-thirsty fanatic? Let us know in the comments.


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