VICE Removes Articles About Org Behind Steam Censorship Change, Writers Resign In Response

The first article removed over the weekend was titled “This Group Takes Responsibility For Steam’s Payment Processor Censorship Policies — They Just Implied ‘Pervert Nerds’ Cause Society’s Problems,” where Valens discussed Collective Shout and their claims about why they allegedly championed changes on Steam. Specifically, she points out some of the organization’s messaging was misleading, such as their suggestion that the removed games depicted “child abuse,” despite the fact that Steam already takes a hardline stance against content with underage characters in sexual situations on their platform. She also points out that Collective Shout previously retweeted a post from a well-known anti-trans writer, Meghan Murphy, who bashed trans people in the replies on the retweeted post.

The second removed article was titled “Group Behind Steam Censorship Policies Have Powerful Allies–And Targeted Popular Games With Outlandish Claims,” and in it, Valens cites an open letter to payment processors penned by Collective Shout that is co-signed by the leadership of several well-known conservative religious activist groups, such as Exodus Cry and National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE). Exodus Cry is a conservative organization with ties to Donald Trump and the evangelical movement, while NCOSE is a right-wing activist group (previously known as Morality in Media) that has campaigned against same-sex marriage, sex education, decriminalization of sex work, and media it deems profane or indecent.

In an interview with Aftermath, Valens indicated that, to her knowledge, there was no threat of legal action over either article, but that Strange Ventures might have killed them out of fear that one could happen down the line. VICE ownership previously pulled Valens’ articles about the controversial VTuber Kirsche Verstahl and allegedly wanted to remove an article she wrote documenting right-wing extremism in VTubing due to how it might negatively impact them on Google Discover.

Both Valve and VICE folding under pressure tie into a greater trend where right-wing organizations and politicians have sought to censor and diminish those who disagree with them. Paramount opted to settle with Trump for $16 million over a 60 Minutes lawsuit that many legal experts say they would have likely won, and then recently canceled Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show for what many speculate to be political reasons. Trump is also targeting universities over their curriculum, and while Harvard is fighting back, many other schools have already capitulated out of fear of losing federal funding. With this ongoing societal-wide chilling effect on free speech and criticism of the right, perhaps it’s unsurprising that this trend has spread to video games and their coverage as well.