Twitch streamers planning #ADayOffTwitch boycott amid rise of "hate raids"

Following the unfortunate rise of “hate raids” on Twitch in recent months, streamers are planning a #ADayOffTwitch boycott on September 1st due to a lack of help.  

In the past few months, Twitch streamers have been targeted with “hate raids,” which are essentially hundreds of bots flooding a streamer’s chat at once with messages that go against Twitch’s hateful conduct rules.

Hate raids are mainly used to target minority groups and were kicked off by attacks on LGBTQ+ streamers with a wave of homophobic and transphobic messages.

These raids sparked outrage from streamers across the platform, who came together with the #TwitchDoBetter movement, as the streaming service stayed radio silent despite going all of this going against their TOS.

After weeks of harassment, Twitch finally responded, assuring streamers that they’re working on solutions to combat the raids, but they can’t share every single detail of what they’re actively doing.

“We’ve been building channel-level ban evasion detection and account improvements to combat this malicious behavior for months. 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,” they said. Yet, for some streamers, this wasn’t a good enough response.

As a result, some streamers – including ‘RekItRaven‘  – banded together to start the #ADayOffTwitch boycott. The movement is an effort to be taken seriously by the platform and is asking streamers to not go live or visit the site on September 1.

We are continuing the fight.

Shout out to @LuciaEverblack and @ShineyPen for helping me with this!#ADayOffTwitch
September 1st, don't go live. pic.twitter.com/dU1ycC9YtM

— ʀᴇᴋ ɪᴛ, ʀᴀᴠᴇɴ! ☠🔪 (@RekItRaven) August 20, 2021

So far the #ADayOffTwitch tweet has garnered plenty of attention with streamers from across the globe echoing the message.

Plenty of others urged viewers to get involved as well and not watch any streamer on the day. “These kinds of protests make an impact when folks are in it together,” stated AnyKey.

Join this protest to End Hate Raids by taking #ADayOffTwitch on 9/1. No streaming, no watching.

These kinds of protests make an impact when folks are in it together.

RT and ask your fav streamers (especially the non-marginalized ones) to participate by not streaming on 9/1. https://t.co/zihs6QsMzB

— AnyKey 💚 #BlackLivesMatter #StopAsianHate (@anykeyorg) August 21, 2021

Remember folks, you don't have to be a streamer to participate in #ADayOffTwitch

As a viewer and a supporter you can participate by staying off the platform completely.

If you can't participate, that's okay, you can still help by boosting and sharing

— #ADayOffTwitch (he/him) (@ShineyPen) August 21, 2021

Previous Twitch boycotts may have been perceived as unsuccessful but streamers are determined to make a change.

It remains to be seen if they’ll get their message across to some of Twitch’s biggest creators.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbHXnqmtp16YvK57xKernqqklravucSnq2isp57BpLSMrKurnZGisrO%2FjKmjmqaenruoecCdmLKnlpvBuLXTnJ9mmp%2BusLDA02aYpqGUYr%2Bqv8Rmpp9lmJbBpnnRmqCdq11mg3SCj2puaA%3D%3D