Twitch Responds to #TwitchDoBetter

Twitch has responded to the issues raised by the #TwitchDoBetter hashtag, which calls for the platform to do more to protect marginalised creators from “hate raids”.

“We’ve seen a lot of conversation about botting, hate raids, and other forms of harassment targeting marginalized creators,” they tweeted on 11 August. “You’re asking us to do better, and we know we need to do more to address these issues. That includes an open and ongoing dialogue about creator safety.”

The company found a “vulnerability in [its] proactive filters” and has issued an update to detect hate speech in chat better. They will also launch “channel-level ban evasion detection and account verification improvements” later this year.

Twitch also said they would reach out to creators to discuss the issue and encouraged users to provide feedback through UserVoice.

#TwitchDoBetter was started by Rek It Raven, after they reported they were hate raided twice in one week.

A hate raid is when a streamer’s chat is filled with users spamming hateful messages. These raids tend to target marginalised creators, and although Twitch’s Automod feature is supposed to adapt to catch deliberate spelling errors, it can be bypassed through measures such as inserting Cyrillic characters in slurs.

PC Gamer reported that Raven was “cautiously optimistic” about Twitch’s response.

“I don’t know what’s going to come of it,” they said. “I really hope that they reach out to me and a couple of other marginalized creators, but I don’t know if that’s gonna happen.”

“I’m unfortunately used to getting some form of hate—I am a queer, femme-presenting person of colour, I am a very easy target—but this was more than just the ‘You’re black, you’re fat, you’re gay’ stuff. These attacks were very pointed.

“Unfortunately we’re not gonna get rid of hate raids, but we can make it more of a pain to do that.”

They have also started the hashtag #SubOffTwitch to encourage people to support their favourite creators on other platforms while the issue is ongoing.

Words by Ellen Leslie

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