Twitch's biggest controversy of the year so far occurred throughout this week, involving not only one of its top female streamers Pokimane, but Ninja also got somewhat involved as well. Unfortunately, much of the platform's drama as of late has stemmed from hate raids, and this one was targeted at Pokimane due to a personal vendetta against her, but the outcome could be a sign that Twitch took this situation seriously and plans to continue the trend in the future.
Between the end of last week and the beginning of this week, Twitch streamer JiDion was permanently banned from creating content on the platform after he sent his viewers to Pokimane's stream to harass her. Luckily, Twitch stepped in and banned JiDion, starting with a 14-day penalty before increasing it to a permanent punishment. Hopefully, this sends a message to others that attempt to harass women on Twitch, which is all too common, because if what Pokimane claims is true, then JiDion's behavior was right to be immediately shut down. Please note that some tweets in this article contain some NSFW language.
The Events of JiDion's Hate Raid Against Pokimane
It's clear based on JiDion's attitude in various videos that he harbors resentment for Pokimane, and he's also blatantly said so. A tweet from January 13 claims that his dislike Pokimane has nothing to do with her being a woman, "but her as a person," implying this justifies sending his viewers on a hate raid against her. Live while watching Poki's Valorant stream during his own session, he told his viewers to type "L + ratio" in her chat. When she switched to follower-only mode, he pushed his viewers to follow her to continue the spam. She responded by ending the stream early, saying that she "can deal with this," but wanted to keep her viewers from experiencing the same harassment.
Though he may claim that his hate has nothing to do with her gender, JiDion's attitude toward Pokimane has been misogyny-fueled hostility that goes beyond the "L + ratio" hate raid on Twitch. Pokimane outlined a list of actions and language that JiDion has otherwise taken, and it's important to remember the impact that prominent online personalities like Twitch streamers and YouTubers can have on their audiences. Sexist comments from JiDion claim that her audience only watches her because they're sexually attracted to her, and baseless references to her private life, as shown below. He also instigated hate raids on other platforms as well including Instagram and spammed all of her social media accounts "with insults" and "threats," she explained in a tweet that has not been publicly refuted by JiDion.
Following his punishment, JiDion turned to multiple other major male Twitch streamers like Adin Ross and Ninja and attempted to get them involved. Over the phone, he told Ross, "you're either with us or against us" while lying about what he urged his followers to do. He also urged Ninja to help reverse his permaban, resulting in Ninja seemingly pretending to text his Twitch rep. However, when Pokimane spoke about the latter situation publicly, she was threatened with legal action by Ninja's team, pressuring her into silence.
Mizkif, on the other hand, pointedly explained how men aren't able to stand up for Pokimane against this kind of harassment and sexism, or else they'll be called a "simp." As recent events prove, Twitch is not a safe space for female streamers.
Now, JiDion is streaming over on YouTube following his Twitch ban, where it's possible he'll be able to get away with gender-driven harassment, should he engage in that type of behavior again. YouTube is home to content creators that frequently engage in harassment toward women, such as TheQuartering, who often goes on rants against women in the gaming industry, resulting in targeted harassment against them. There's a long way to go before misogyny against women like Pokimane subsides, but Twitch took the right action by permanently banning a blatant instigator.