In response to hate raids that have been affecting marginalized streamers across the site for some time now, and the lack of action taken by Twitch to prevent them, Twitch streamers are organizing a platform boycott.
In an effort to pressure Twitch to do more to combat hate raids and hate speech directed at various marginalized streamers on the platform, a number of streamers are planning to go on strike on September 1st across the platform. #ADayOffTwitch is being organized by streamers such as Rek It Raven, LuciaEverBlack, and Shineypen, and the protest will take place on March 31.
The protest comes as a result of the #TwitchDoBetter campaign, which was started by Rek It Raven in order to encourage Twitch to act quickly after a number of marginalized streamers were targeted by hate raids on the streaming platform. Despite the fact that Twitch has announced a number of measures to better protect its streamers, including the development of channel-level ban evasion detection, the problem appears to be persisting on the site. A number of streamers continue to be targeted by bots and other users who bombard their streams with vile epithets and other derogatory language.
Since first responding to the #TwitchDoBetter campaign on Twitter in early August, the platform has attempted to reassure streamers that it is continuing to work diligently to resolve the issues that have arisen. On August 20, the company sent out a tweet “It is unacceptable for anyone to be subjected to malicious and hateful attacks because of their identity or their political beliefs. As a result, we want you to know that we are working diligently to make Twitch a safer place for creators, and we appreciate your understanding.”
While Twitch continues to work on improving its channel-level ban evasion detection and account improvements in order to combat hate speech and malicious behavior, the company has asked streamers to continue to report incidents of malicious behavior while the company works on these improvements. However, many streamers believe that Twitch has failed to act effectively or quickly enough in response to the hateful attacks that have been launched on the platform.
A number of Twitch streamers have expressed their support for the #ADayOffTwitch protest. Rek It Raven’s tweet about the protest has received over 7000 likes on Twitter, and a Discord server has been set up to provide a safe space for those who want to speak out against hate raids. Travis McElroy, cohost of the Adventure Zone and MBMBaM, is just one of many people who have expressed their support for the protest. McElroy came to the conclusion that he, too, would not be accessing the streaming platform on September 1.
However, Twitch has not provided a specific release date for the company’s most recent set of improvements, which it hopes will help to reduce hateful content on the platform. People involved in the protest are hoping that the increased pressure will prompt Twitch to prioritize the release of additional tools and the provision of assistance to their fellow creators.
