Two weeks ago, New York State Sen. Andrew Gounardes stood with child safety advocates in calling the video game Roblox a “playground for predators” and announced legislation requiring gaming platforms to verify users’ ages, turn off chat functions by default for minors and set children’s profiles to private. The bill responds to a flood of child exploitation cases that made national headlines. 

Gounardes is right to act. But his bill, like the federal Kids Online Safety Act moving through Congress, has a gap Jewish organizations should care about. 

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Illustrative. Boy playing a video game on a desktop computer.

Neither bill names hate. Neither names extremism. Neither names antisemitism. This is an advocacy opportunity hiding in plain sight. 

What these bills do — and what they don’t do

The Kids Online Safety Act passed in the Senate 91-to-3 last year and has been reintroduced with support from Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Rather than relying on vague language about keeping kids safe, KOSA enumerates specific harms platforms must address: anxiety and depression, eating disorders, substance abuse, suicidal behaviors, bullying and sexual exploitation. 

This specificity matters. When harms are named, platforms must measure them, report on them and demonstrate they are taking action. Generic language lets platforms define problems away. Enumeration creates accountability. 

KOSA explicitly covers online video games; so does the Gounardes bill in New York. 

Research shows tens of millions of gamers have been exposed to hate speech while playing. In a recent study, over half of gaming sessions played with Jewish usernames resulted in antisemitic harassment. Researchers have identified over a million pieces of extremist content on a single major gaming platform. 

This is not a peripheral concern. Gaming is the primary digital social environment for young people. When a teenager encounters a swastika in a game lobby or hears Holocaust denial on voice chat, that is exactly the kind of harm these bills are designed to address.

Yet under both KOSA and the New York bill, platforms have no explicit obligation to address hate, extremism or antisemitism the way they must address eating disorders or sexual exploitation. 

New York’s Stop Hiding Hate Act, which took effect this fall, does require platforms to report on their hate speech policies. But that law focuses on transparency, not prevention. And it covers social media, not gaming. The gap remains. 

Why Jewish organizations should act 

Antisemitism is at historic levels. The past year saw more documented incidents than any year on record. Much of this activity occurs online, and gaming is a particular concern. Young people encounter hatred in spaces designed for play, and the pipeline from online hate exposure to radicalization is well documented. 

These bills represent an opportunity the Jewish communal world has largely missed. The structure already exists to enumerate specific harms. Adding hate, extremism and antisemitism requires no fundamental change to either piece of legislation. It expands the existing lists. 

Congress has already demonstrated willingness to name antisemitism in federal law. The Antisemitism Awareness Act, which requires the Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition, passed in the House 320-91. The same approach could apply to KOSA and state legislation. 

Some may argue that adding more categories will slow the bills down or invite opposition. But the enumeration framework already exists. Legislators have already decided that specificity is better than vagueness. The question is simply whether hate, extremism and antisemitism belong on the list alongside eating disorders and substance abuse. 

As a nonprofit startup, we move fast: identifying gaps in both tech and policy, working across stakeholders and bringing a perspective shaped by a coalition where 40% of our participants come from outside the Jewish community. Over the past 18 months, Adir has been building both the technology and the talent pipeline to combat antisemitism in gaming environments. Through our GameChangers Fellowship and partnerships with academic institutions and leading industry companies, we’ve learned directly from the ground what platforms need — and what current legislation misses. That on-the-ground intelligence has enabled us to draft amendments that would add antisemitism, extremism and hate to the Gounardes bill’s required protections.

Jewish federations, advocacy organizations and foundations should urge Congress to amend KOSA to include hate, extremism and antisemitism among the bill’s enumerated harms. In New York, they should engage Sen. Gounardes to ensure the Children’s Online Safety Act addresses these harms as well. 

This is not about gaming. It is about recognizing that children’s online safety includes protection from the hatred that has targeted Jewish communities for generations. The legislative infrastructure is being built right now. We should make sure our community’s concerns are part of it. 

Morielle Lotan founded Adir after her nephew was murdered at the Nova Festival on Oct. 7, 2023, building the nonprofit to develop technologies and talent to combat online antisemitism and hate. Her background is in nuclear strategy, with research published in Comparative Strategy, and her for-profit work bridges U.S. and Israeli markets in energy and dual-use technologies.