While Twitch is mainly used for streaming video games, others use the platform to simply stream their everyday lives in what are called Twitch IRL broadcasts. One such Twitch streamer is Jinnytty, a Korean woman who has used her Twitch IRL streams to build a respectable fanbase. Unfortunately, one fan has taken their admiration for Jinny too far, and has allegedly been stalking the Twitch streamer for at least six months.
Jinny's stalker began following her in January of 2019, both while broadcasting and when she's offline, including a recent instance where she spotted him hiding in an alley. The stalker has written suggestive comments on Facebook about Jinny, and has reportedly kept track of her class schedule, which he posted publicly. Jinny apparently confronted the stalker in a stream at one point, but he said that they just keep bumping into each other because of coincidences.
On July 20, Jinny was live-streaming on Twitch IRL and her stalker once again showed up. Jinny's stalker sat just behind her on the bus, concealing his face with a fan.
For months, Jinny refrained from going to the police because she wanted to give her stalker a chance to change his ways. However, by the end of her July 20 broadcast, Jinny finally decided to report her stalker to the local police.
Due to its live nature, Twitch IRL has played host to a wide variety of disturbing and controversial videos. Sometimes these videos show the Twitch streamer themselves in danger, like we see with swatting incidents or this video of Jinnytty being followed by her stalker. Other times, it's the Twitch streamers themselves who are getting into trouble.
One of the most famous examples of this is the recent Twitch stream where Dr Disrespect streamed himself in a public bathroom at E3 2019. Since filming in a public bathroom is illegal in California, Dr Disrespect's Twitch account was banned for two weeks, and the incident caused quite the uproar online.
It will be interesting to see if incidents like the Dr Disrespect bathroom controversy eventually cause Twitch to more closely regulate its Twitch IRL broadcasts. And in the case of Jinny's stream, perhaps do something to better protect the streamers who are threatened by their fans.