#TwitchDoBetter is trending today, with Twitch coming under fire from streamers due to marginalized creators being subjected to racist and sexist raids. According to various streamers and users of the platform, “hate raids” are becoming all too commonplace, with users bombarding channels with extremely racist, homophobic, and sexist comments.
Twitch raids typically see a streamer sending their followers to another streamer’s channel, with this being a built-in function of the platform. However, these raids are instead being organized privately, with streamers finding themselves inundated with bots or individuals spamming the same hateful messages.
Why is #TwitchDoBetter trending?
Streamers have been sharing their experiences with this new spate of hate raids, including the bigoted comments they’re being forced to endure. In response to racist abuse faced by Twitch streamer Solo, fellow creator Rek It Raven called on Twitch to act, tweeting: “This is absolutely enough. If [Twitch is] taking 1/2 of our income then why are marginalized people still subject to lackluster safety protocols?”
https://twitter.com/RekItRaven/status/1424738019203063808
“The amount of trolls and harassment marginalized streamers put up with does not make 50% sub revenue worth it,” streamer Chonki tweeted, noting that all of her friends had been on the receiving end of hate raids recently.
All of my friends are getting hate raids lately. #TwitchDoBetter. Make the platform safe for us, first and foremost. And give us a bigger cut of the revenue as well. The amount of trolls and harassment marginalized streamers put up with does not make 50% sub revenue worth it.
— chonki 👻 (@chonkikage) August 9, 2021
There is no reason for marginalized creators to feel as unsafe as we do and with how much money yall take from us, the least that could be done is implementing proper safety measures to protect us against things like hate raids.
— tee 🍉 | they/them (@teonawrites) August 9, 2021
Streamer Safire E. Glamour also shared a hate raid she had been subjected to back in December 2020, also pointing out Twitch’s big revenue share compared to it protecting those who stream on the platform:
https://twitter.com/SafireEGlamour/status/1424767891732324355
Twitch streamer go_jg also shared that they had been follow-botted, which is when bots are sent to follow a streamer. Given that bot followers are against Twitch’s terms of service, this can be an attempt to get a channel incorrectly banned, or just a way to disrupt the stream and force the streamer offline.
go_jg shared some advice on how creators can resolve this issue:
Got follow botted at the end of stream yesterday. Made this video to help if it ever happens to you, but also, #TwitchDoBetter pic.twitter.com/aqIrXAKJGg
— Jess/Fawn 🔛 Twitch 🦌💜 FREE 🇵🇸 (@FaunAndGames) August 9, 2021
Twitch has long suffered with its creators facing harassment from their viewers, with the site having taken some steps to reduce this. Back in August 2020, the platform allowed creators to decide whether or not they wanted their clips to be shared so that their content could not be passed around easily if they didn’t want it to.
However, it’s clear that many marginalized creators in particular are still being targeted, with these hate raids only growing in prominence. With the #TwitchDoBetter hashtag now trending in the US, it is hoped that the platform will take action and roll out features that will prevent follow-bot and hate raids from being so easy to launch.
In other news, Back 4 Blood’s community has been up in arms over the lack of a campaign versus mode. Darksiders 3 has also been revealed for Nintendo Switch.
