Swatting is when someone calls the police and accuses a random person of a crime with the intention of having cops bust in on an unsuspecting victim. It’s harassment in the guise of a prank call, and in the worst cases, this has resulted in people being arrested or even killed. And in the case of trans Canadian Twitch streamer Clara “Keffals” Sorrenti, it’s just part of an ongoing harassment campaign targeting her.To recap, Keffals, a noted political commentator and trans rights activist, has been subject to multiple attacks during her time on Twitch, including doxing and swatting. Things escalated with a swatting incident on August 5 where police arrested her, stuck a gun in her face, and repeatedly used her deadname (her pre-transition birth name). Following that, Keffals and her fiance relocated to a hotel to stay safe, but in a new update this week, she revealed that she has been subjected to more attacks since then.Among these, she revealed that her harassers had figured out where she was and sent pizzas to her hotel, ordering them under her deadname. They had discovered her location by looking at a photo of her cat on her bed and “cross-referencing them with every hotel in my city until they found a match.” These are just a few examples of the attacks that have been directed at her by members of Kiwi Farms, a forum particularly known for hate speech and targeted harassment.
And they haven't only targeted Keffals. According to the press kit detailing the attacks against her, friends and family have been doxed, an unrelated C. Sorrenti living in Toronto was swatted, and a Texas-based graphic artist that works for her was the target of an attempted swatting. It appears that anyone with a connection to Keffals, or anyone who could be mistaken as having a connection, could be at risk of harassment.
For the time being, Keffals is taking extra measures to maintain privacy and safety. These include “living in Airbnbs that have been rented by a third party” so she doesn’t have to give out her name, planning to change locations every week, and using a VPN to hide her IP address. As for her Twitch streaming, she says she’ll use a portable setup she can fit in a backpack as well as a green screen, that way no one can track her location through her streams.
Given how intensely Keffals specifically is being targeted, it’s hard not to see the transphobia in the harassment being directed at her. But rather than back down, she is doubling down on her activism, raising money for legal needs, and calling on people to spread the word about Kiwi Farm’s attacks. Considering how many members of the LGBTQIA+ community face similar harassment and threats to their lives, it’s important that cruel behavior like this is called out, especially in a time when powerful people are spreading anti-trans rhetoric, not just internet trolls.