As one of the most popular streaming platforms on the web, Twitch has a responsibility to make sure streamers and viewers feel they have a place they can hang out and view content without becoming the victim of online abuse. Last year, the Amazon-owned site was subject to a series of hate raids, in which streamers were targeted by a flood of hateful messages, mainly from bot accounts. While the site did implement some measures to try and counter it, it seems as though people from the LGBTQA+ community are, once again, being targeted.
According to a recent report from Dot Esports, a number of Twitch streamers have been reporting a series of hate raids that have been stemming from Cozy.tv, which is a conservative streaming platform, and is not to be confused with Cozi TV. Users from the site have allegedly been spamming chatrooms on Twitch and Discord servers, as well as directly messaging users themselves with messages of homophobia and other hate.
A number of users have been subjected to these latest raids, including the LGBTQ+ streamer Blizzb3ar, who had to end his stream early due to the number of messages that were spamming his community. Another content creator by the name of xProvexx also said in a locked tweet that people should prepare an "action plan" in case they experience these raids, with another personal allegedly compiling a list of those involved. The co-founder of Cozy.tv has issued a statement claiming credit for the harassment, as well as encouraging its perpetuation.
During similar events last August, Twitch banned 15 million hate raid bots in an effort to stem the flow of such online toxicity. At the time, many felt the company did not react quickly enough as more and more streamers became the victim of raids, though the platform did eventually implement additional safeguarding measures, but evidently, it seems that there are still those who wish to victimize streamers, especially women and those in the LGBTQ+ community.
Despite the recent Streamer Awards that acknowledges high profile and entertaining content creators, Twitch is still marred in controversies. These new incidents of users raiding channels for the purposes of spreading hate is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. The platform has made a commitment to ensuring that users have more power to stem the flow of hatred, but it will be good for the company to come forward and announce how it will tackle this latest bout of harassment.
Source: Dot Esports