Twitch responds to angry streamers as #TwitchDoBetter hashtag trends on Twitter
Twitch
Twitch has responded to the trending hashtag #TwitchDoBetter, which is being used to highlight abuse on the platform.
Marginalised streamers have recently been hit by frequent hate raids consisting of follow bots sending abusive messages.
They’ve taken to Twitter to share their frustrations and disappointments with Twitch.
Plenty of streamers have shared their stories, including drag streamer Eevolicious who was hit with transphobic abuse.
The hashtag was started by streamer RekItRaven after she was repeatedly hate raided with racist abuse, but the hashtag has since been used to reflect the experience of all marginalised people on the platform.
Have you tweeted in support of #TwitchDoBetter today?
Keep up the momentum y'all. Just 1 tweet
— ʀᴇᴋ ɪᴛ, ʀᴀᴠᴇɴ! ☠? (@RekItRaven) August 11, 2021
“I started #TwitchDoBetter because I’m tired of having to fight to exist on a platform that says they’re diverse and inclusive but remained silent to the pleas of marginalized creators asking for more protections from hate raids,” Raven told The Verge.
She added: “I’d love to see creators having more tools to control their experience like allowing creators to block [recently created] accounts from chatting, [and] allowing mods to approve or decline raids.”
Twitch has now responded to the hashtag.
We’ve seen a lot of conversation about botting, hate raids, and other forms of harassment targeting marginalized creators. 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.— Twitch (@Twitch) August 11, 2021
“We’ve seen a lot of conversation about botting, hate raids, and other forms of harassment targeting marginalized creators. 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,” reads the Twitter thread.
“Thank you to everyone who shared these difficult experiences. We were able to identify a vulnerability in our proactive filters, and have rolled out an update to close this gap and better detect hate speech in chat. We’ll keep updating this to address emerging issues.”
The platform will launch channel-level ban evasion detection and account verification improvements later this year, but are eager for streamers to share their input on their User Voice forum.
“Our work is never done, and your input is essential as we try to build a safer Twitch,” they said.
The response has been met with positivity, though many streamers still feel like there’s a long way to go before feeling safe on the platform.
I'm happy to see a response. I even happier that together we created a movement. Sure I started pushing the hashtag but you all carried with with me.
Thank you for sharing your stories. This is just the beginning.
I am grateful that we were able to spark change! https://t.co/9SR9cgtAuV— ʀᴇᴋ ɪᴛ, ʀᴀᴠᴇɴ! ☠? (@RekItRaven) August 11, 2021
Your marginalized creators are having a hard time and it gets worse and worse every day. Stand with us against hate.— DEERE (@dearDEERE) August 11, 2021
Glad you're doing this, but there was absolute radio silence on your end when I had a stalker that abused your platform for months to get to me
— chonki ? (@chonkikage) August 11, 2021
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