Streamers won’t let Twitch forget they’re still being harassed
Twitch recently posted on Twitter to promote a new episode of Twitch Public Access, however the response from streamers using their platform was far from joyous. Why? Because marginalized streamers have been targeted by racist, homophobic, and transphobic trolls since early August, with hate raids growing by the day.
The hate raids and trolls have grown so bad there has been a #TwitchDoBetter tag, originally started by streamer RekitRaven, which hasn’t lost ground since. It often trends, and it even caused Twitch to respond with their own statement.
“We’ve seen a lot of conversation about botting, hate raids, and other forms of harassment targeting marginalized creators.” Twitch posted on August 11th. “You’re asking us to do better, and we know we need to do more to address these issues. That includes an open and ongoing dialogue about creator safety.”
But while Twitch has implemented some changes, hate raids still continue to happen and only seem to be targeting marginalized streamers.
“[…] I’ve had loads of [hate raids], I had 11,000 follow me on Trans Day of Visibility with names referring to the trans suicide rate amongst others. It’s awful and Twitch aren’t doing anything really to stop it,” said streamer Bethany Black on Twitter.
Another streamer, AshleyRoboto, replied to Twitch’s promotion post stating “Y’all really cannot just sit and keep it up as business as usual. So many creators on your platform are being BOMBARDED DAILY with abhorrent hate raids. Please. Do SOMETHING. The “we see you” tweet isn’t enough. Be transparent with your game plan. It’s gone on FAR too long now.”
More and more Twitch streamers have taken to Twitter to express their anger at Twitch’s lack of commitment to keeping them and their viewers safe from the vitriol experienced with these hate raids.
We’ve reached out to Twitch for a statement on this ongoing situation.
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