Things have gotten rough for Twitch recently due to the controversy surrounding hate raids and the huge leak of its database and code. Twitch has, of course, taken action about both of these, helped out in part by Streamlabs which introduced a "Safe Mode" to help with hate raids.
Streamlabs, for those not in the know, is working with Twitch to help players stream directly from Xbox to Twitch. Before, players had to use a capture card in order to bring game streams to PC and then to Twitch, while Streamlabs lets them stream from console much easier. It's also been the tool of choice for streamers on PC for some time, including famous Twitch stars like Pokimane. However, this convenience is not enough to prevent Streamlabs from coming under fire.
Streamlabs has garnered scrutiny for what seem to be several instances of plagarism. Lightstreams, a rival streaming tool, brought this to light first by pointing out that Stremlabs' website was almost a total carbon copy of Lightstreams' own website. The tweet rapidly drew attention as people confirmed the similarities and called out Streamlabs, with even Edward Snowden getting in on it. Despite Streamlabs launching its own charity platform back in 2019, people swarmed to pile accusations on it.
Streamlabs defended itself, saying that the obviously copied text, structure, and format was merely a test and was not meant to be publicly published, a response that absolutely no one thought was legitimate. Soon others began pointing out how Streamlabs was using other company's assets, including one tweet pointing out how they had also re-used Lightstreams' review quotes on its own page. Streamlabs quickly came under fire from none other than Pokimane, one of its most prominent users, who threatened to demand her name and face be removed from the product unless things were resolved. With Pokimane now the co-founder and CCO of her own company and already a streaming star, that demand carries significant weight.
Further accusations came from OBS, which pointed out that Streamlabs used its name for its own service (SLOBS) even when asked not to. With all the pressure on its close partner, Twitch is likely not happy, especially not after a Turkish politician demanded it be investigated earlier this month.
This may not effect Twitch's massive viewership directly, but if Streamlabs fails to properly address what seems to be many instances of plagiarism, many of its users may leave for other software. Only time will tell if Streamlabs' response is adequate.