Twitch taking ‘legal action’ against trolls to combat surge in anti-LGBT+ ‘hate raids’
Twitch is threatening “legal action” against perpetrators after hate raids against LGBT+ streamers spike on the platform. (Pexels)
Twitch is threatening to bring legal action against hateful trolls after a sharp rise in hate raids targeting LGBT+ streamers on the platform.
The live streaming platform detailed in a statement on Twitter how some “bad actors” had coordinated to target women and LGBT+ streamers with “spammy and hateful chat messages”.
Twitch denounced these targeted attacks, saying “hate has no place on Twitch”. It added that the perpetrators involved had been identified and their accounts have been suspended.
Twitch said it wasn’t just stopping at bans though and will be looking into bringing “legal action” to crack down on hate raids in the future.
“Our safety team is actively reviewing reports and suspending users in violation of our [terms of service],” the Twitch Support account wrote. “Our legal team is also involved and actively investigating.”
The platform continued: “We’ve taken legal action against those who’ve harassed our community in the past and continue to take these activities seriously.”
Our Safety team is actively reviewing reports and suspending users in violation of our TOS. Our legal team is also involved and actively investigating. We've taken legal action against those who've harassed our community in the past and continue to take these activities seriously
— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) March 12, 2022
Twitch also advised on a few ways that streamers can attempt to protect themselves against hate raids. This includes turning on followers-only and slow modes; allowing raids from friends; and continuing to ban, report and block any cases of harassment on the platform.
According to Dot Esports, several streamers took to Twitter to report the hate raids going around LGBT+ creators on the platform, and some had tracked the raids back to conservative streaming platform Cozy.tv.
The platform was co-founded by white nationalist livestreamer Nick Fuentes. Fuentes laughed as he took credit for and further encouraged the LGBT+ hate raids in a clip from a recent stream on the platform.
The far-right supporter has been banned from Twitch, Reddit and YouTube, Dot Esports reported.
The recent LGBT+ hate raids on Twitch follow similar issues from last year that led to streamers participating in the #ADayOffTwitch protest. The movement caused viewer numbers on Twitch to plummet as streamers staged a mass walkout in protest of hate raids targeted at marginalised creators.
