Video game streamers on the popular Twitch platform are calling for a strike against the site amid an ongoing series of "hate raids" rife with Nazi imagery and LGBTQ-phobic slurs.
The strike, dubbed #ADayOffTwitch and set to take place September 1, is the brainchild of streamer Rek It Raven, who had also previously created the trending hashtag #TwitchDoBetter in response to the hate raids. The hashtag even proved so popular that the Amazon-owned platform itself released a statement, expressing that they know they need to address these types of problems.
We are continuing the fight.Shout out to @LuciaEverblack and @ShineyPen for helping me with this!#ADayOffTwitchSeptember 1st, don't go live. pic.twitter.com/dU1ycC9YtM
— ʀᴇᴋ ɪᴛ, ʀᴀᴠᴇɴ! ☠ (@RekItRaven) August 20, 2021
“We’ve been building channel-level ban evasion detection and account improvements to combat this malicious behavior for months," the statement read, according to the news outlet PC Gamer. "However, as we work on solutions, bad actors work in parallel to find ways around them – which is why we can’t always share details.”
The hate raids are an ever-growing platform on the problem, which range from outright Nazi imagery, calling for the public execution of members of the LGBTQ community – or in the case of one incident on Raven's streams, a declaration that the channel belongs to the Ku Klux Klan. In fact, many people actually targeted streamers using the #TwitchDoBetter hashtag with further harassment, PC Gamer reported.
Another notable instance shared on Twitter by user Cypheroftyr related to streamer Pleasantlytwsted, who had been hate-raided for over an hour and had their personal information shared.
Y'all @pleasantlytwstd has been getting a NON STOP hate raid since she went live over an HOUR AGO. AN HOUR. Including "raids" from her full name and this BS. CW: Nazi imagery.So @Twitch what y'all doing? WHAT? pic.twitter.com/xzaXCkzvg9
— Cypher | Watch Game Changer on #BETHerTV (@cypheroftyr) August 21, 2021
Hate raids are nothing new, however, and have been a prevalent problem on the platform for a long time.
A hate-raid “is basically when someone sends their followers and fan base to attack someone with inappropriate comments, death threats, constant harassment, etc.,” Israeli streamer and content creator Dov Joseph “FiendRiver” Goldman-Aloof told The Jerusalem Post back in the summer of 2020 as the platform was hit with criticism regarding antisemitic and sexual harassment. “These kinds of things hinder us from performing our jobs correctly when it’s this severe.”
However, many believe the platform isn't doing enough to combat the hate raids.
"This is something that has been plaguing Twitch as a platform for a while, and it is something that can be easily fixed with IP bans, limiting chat to users with accounts that have existed for specific periods of time, and so on," explained Goldman-Aloof, who is also Israel's national Pokemon champion, adding that it is part of why he and other content creators are exploring other options.
"Part of Twitch's lack of interest in protecting their users and improving their site is why I've been transitioning over to YouTube for the past year. If Twitch's management doesn't start improving things like safety and discoverability, rather than just adding a bunch of semi-useless features that literally nobody asked for, people will most likely end up getting fed up with Twitch and start moving to other platforms like YouTube, which has been heavily working on improving their live streaming and gaming sections," he explained.
"Should this happen, Twitch will go the same way as MySpace."