For anyone that logs on to Twitch on September 1, they might be surprised to find it much less active than usual. That is intentional because streamers from all over will be boycotting Twitch for “A Day Off Twitch” in support of marginalized streamers that are facing growing harassment on the platform. A trend called “hate raids” have been increasing across Twitch where waves of people are being sent to active streams and harassing them with hateful messages.
For anyone in need of a refresher, a raid on Twitch is when someone has wrapped up their stream they will send their audience of viewers to a different stream. It’s a way the streaming community supports one another by spreading the wealth. To let the streamer know they are being raided it is usually accompanied by a wave of messages, in their chat, related to the stream everyone is coming from. These hate raids however are not about showing support for one another. It’s targeted harassment and the trend is, unfortunately, becoming more common.
Twitch’s response to the hate raids have so far been to encourage their community to not do this and to request that users report anyone taking part in this. They have said they’re working on a fix, but the response has been slow and many streamers feel that their voices have been going unheard as the hate raids continue.
No one should have to experience malicious and hateful attacks based on who they are or what they stand for. This is not the community we want on Twitch, and we want you to know we are working hard to make Twitch a safer place for creators. https://t.co/fDbw62e5LW
— Twitch (@Twitch) August 20, 2021
We’ve been building channel-level ban evasion detection and account improvements to combat this malicious behavior for months. However, as we work on solutions, bad actors work in parallel to find ways around them—which is why we can’t always share details.
— Twitch (@Twitch) August 20, 2021
While it may sound like Twitch is responding to something that is only just now happening, these hate raids have actually been increasing since summertime. One of the first people to call out the hate raids was a streamer named “RekItRaven.” She posted a clip on Twitter of her receiving a string of targeted harassment in her chat. When she did it went viral with others speaking up about how they’ve been receiving similar messages in their streams. Via Waypoint.
“Each account of hate was disgusting and it has become more and more prevalent,” Raven told Waypoint, “so I decided to speak up and so many others did as well.”
…
“I think [hate raids] are a fairly large issue especially right now,” Lucia told Waypoint. “It’s a sign that there is a huge uptick in unchecked harassment which is becoming a norm of the platform’s culture.”
We are continuing the fight.
Shout out to @LuciaEverblack and @ShineyPen for helping me with this!#ADayOffTwitch
September 1st, don’t go live. pic.twitter.com/dU1ycC9YtM— ʀᴇᴋ ɪᴛ, ʀᴀᴠᴇɴ!
(@RekItRaven) August 20, 2021
With Twitch not responding in a way that streamers find adequate, they are choosing to use their platform in a way to be proactive. While hate raids may be the most recent trend, Twitch is a platform that has been seeing increased harassment on it over the years, especially for streamers who are not straight white men. This boycott on September 1 will be the Twitch community’s response to that increased harassment as they hope to encourage change on the platform and get a stronger response from Twitch.