German schools use video game to teach about Islamists radicalization

Twenty-six students at a secondary school in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia are testing a new video game titled Wer ist Bilal? (“Who is Bilal?”), serving as a pilot group for a new campaign by Germany’s Interior Ministry aimed at countering Islamist radicalization and online disinformation.

At the center of the interactive game is a fictional student named Finn. The ninth-graders from the town of Meerbusch navigate simulated group chats, voice messages, and images, actively engaging as the story unfolds, German media reports. In their search for a missing classmate, they encounter fake news, take screenshots, and gather clues.

Observing the session were North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul and Media Minister Nathanael Liminski, both members of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). “We want to know your opinion,” Liminski called out to the teenagers. “What would you do differently?”

The idea for the project emerged after the Islamist attack in the town of Solingen in August 2024, when a Syrian man killed three people and injured eight others on the first day of a city festival in North Rhine-Westphalia. The following day, the extremist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to regional officials, the goal was to create a tool that realistically demonstrates how individuals can change under Islamist influence. Professional influencers operating within extremist circles have become a “huge source of danger,” particularly for young people, Interior Minister Reul said. “This has nothing to do with Islam.”

“A lot is coming our way that is not well-intentioned,” Liminski told the class. Intelligence alone, he added, is no longer enough to recognize the motives behind activity on social media platforms. “You have to learn that.” The interactive video game Wer ist Bilal? is intended to help build that awareness.

Through their own decisions in the game, students experience “how radicalization processes can develop and what role social media plays in them,” the Interior Ministry explained. The video game aims to inform young people “without wagging a moral finger” while fostering “key skills such as critical thinking, empathy, and responsible media use.”

By Nazrin Sadigova