Use Games And Social Media To Combat Terrorist Indoctrination, Says Lord Carlisle

It’s not a completely new idea as many countries have done similar things in the past, but Lord Carlile, former reviewer of anti-terrorism legislation, has urged ministers to employ game makers to counter Islamic radicalization in the country.

Game makers would be tasked with making games in which the “good guys” win, thus effectively using games as a propaganda tool.

The goal is to stop the flow of British teenagers fleeing to the Middle East to fight for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also referred to as ISIS).

The Liberal Democrat peer said it was essential to “fight fire with the same sort of fire”, The Telegraph writes in a report.

The Foreign Office believes more than 700 Britons have travelled to the Middle East to fight alongside ISIL, with half estimated to have already returned to Britain.

“It’s hard to counter, but one has does have to use the same tools, the same thought processes, that do radicalise people,” said Lord Carlile, independent reviewer of terrorism legislation from 2001 to 2008.

He added: “The government must sit down with the best brains who, for example, create games on the internet, who write programme for the Internet, and they must try and produce the same methods to show that the good guys sometimes win.

“That being radicalised and going to fight for Isil is actually a ghastly thing to do, that it destroys families, that actually happiness can be obtained by having an ordinary British life.”