Activision Bans 350k Call Of Duty Accounts In Big Toxicity Crackdown

Activision is cracking down on toxic and racist behavior in its latest Call of Duty games. As part of this effort, the company says that it has already banned more than 350,000 accounts for toxic behavior (as reported by other players) or for using racist names. Among other things, the company has added new ways to catch this behavior and weed out unwanted accounts.

The crackdown has taken place over the past year, according to Activision, and it involves its latest and greatest hits: Warzone, Modern Warfare, Black Ops Cold War, and even Call of Duty: Mobile. The accounts were banned based on a combination of reviewing the company's player-name database and reports from other players.

In addition, the company says that it has rolled out new in-game filters that can identify offensive profiles, usernames, and clan tags, as well as a new system for filtering offensive text chat messages. These filters are now in place for 11 different languages. The company says this is just the start, however, and that it has more features planned.

Activision says it will be ramping up its efforts across a variety of categories, including adding additional tech for catching toxic, racist, and sexist behavior, dedicating more resources to its detection and enforcement efforts, increasing its transparency with the Call of Duty community, and offering 'consistent and fair' review of its various enforcement policies, among other things.

The company also mentions that it will be taking steps to address toxic behavior in voice chat, as well as expanding moderation and players' ability to report other players for this kind of content and behavior. Activision said as part of its announcement, "We know we have a long way to go to reach our goals. This is just the start. Addressing this is an ongoing commitment that we will not waiver from."