A number of marginalised streamers have fallen victim to hate raids involving their chat getting flooded with racist, homophobic and transphobic abuse among other things. While Twitch has promised to address this issue, it seems things are only getting worse. Twitch streamer Reyven took to Twitter to point out that certain follower accounts are actually IP grabbers in disgiuise that trigger raids.
An IP grabber like Grabify is a tool that can log your IP, and all you’d need to do is get tricked into clicking a link. Yes, it’s that simple. Reyven pointed out that a certain profile followed them on Twitch but fortunately they had already read about this issue on Reddit. The Reddit post said that the account url that you’d click on to check the profile is linked to an IP logging tool. Once someone has your IP, there’s a lot they can do with it, including trigger hate raids. Reyven then went on to share a list of usernames that have been known for IP logging, so that other steamers can preemptively ban them.
Hate raids have become very common for marginalised streamers. A number of them took to social media to urge Twitch to do something about it and even made the hashtag #TwitchDoBetter trend. The streaming platforms did take notice of this and put out a statement. "We’ve seen a lot of conversation about botting, hate raids, and other forms of harassment targeting marginalized creators," wrote Twitch in a series of tweets. “You’re asking us to do better, and we know we need to do more to address these issues.”
However, many streamers felt that this wasn’t enough. They took things to the next level and organised a campaign called #ADayOffTwitch. The movement involves all associated streamers essentially going on strike from streaming on the platform on September 1. The movement has gathered a sizable following, and messages of support have also poured in.
Another tactic being used to attack streamers involves flooding chats of offline accounts with racial slurs, screenshotting it, and reporting it to Twitch, and getting them banned. The platform's terms of service says that streamers are responsible for the content on chat, even while offline. Streamers have been advised to limit their chat to emote only while offline.
Attacks on some streamers have also started becoming life threatening. Earlier this month we reported that somebody tried to light Amouranth’s house on fire. While nobody was hurt and the fire was quickly put out, the authorities strongly suspect arson.