Twitch streamers are planning #ADayOffTwitch in protest against a phenomenon known as hate robberies.
It follows the viral #TwitchDoBetter campaign, which aims to get Twitch to find a solution to the lingering problems of racism, transphobia, and abuse on the platform.
Streamers RekItRaven, LuciaEverBlack and Shineypen have organized the new protest for YouTubers and viewers to stay away from Twitch, which will take place on September 1st.
We continue the fight.
Scream @LuciaEverblack and @ShineyPen that you helped me!#ADayOffTwitch
September 1st, not going live. pic.twitter.com/dU1ycC9YtM– ʀᴇᴋ ɪᴛ, ʀᴀᴠᴇɴ! (@RekItRaven) August 20, 2021
This protest stands alongside a petition from Change.org to pressure Twitch to find a solution to hate attacks. The petition has nearly 15,000 signatures.
Hate robberies are a constant problem for LGBT + streamers on the platform, who are repeatedly attacked by follow bots sending out hateful comments.
Twitch posted a second statement on the attacks on Twitter.
“Nobody should be exposed to malicious and hateful attacks based on who they are or what they stand for. This is not the community we want on Twitch, and we want you to know that we are working hard to make Twitch a safer place for YouTubers, ”it says.
Nobody should be exposed to malicious and hateful attacks based on who they are or what they stand for. This is not the community we want on Twitch, and we want you to know that we are working hard to make Twitch a safer place for YouTubers. https://t.co/fDbw62e5LW
– Twitch (@Twitch) August 20, 2021
The thread goes on to explain that they are working on solutions but cannot share details to protect their work from the “malicious actors” who instigate the malicious attacks.
This thread from trans-cybersecurity graduate student That_GayGinger further explains Twitch’s predicament where they are unable to voice their solutions.
Cyber threat groups are divided into several groups: nation states, hacktivists, cyber criminals, terrorist groups, insider threats, and thrill seekers. Each group is categorized based on their motivation for perpetuating cybercrime. The last group, 1 /?
– Patrick Damon (@That_GayGinger) August 21, 2021
However, many streamers feel that Twitch isn’t working fast enough to find a solution, which is why #ADayOffTwitch has picked up speed in protest.
And while Twitch has tools to assist and protect streamers, a viral tweet explains how impossible it is for streamers themselves to prevent attacks.
Thomsimonson’s video describes how hate robbers use recognizable characters from non-English languages to evade prohibited terms.
” @Pull out gives you tools to manage hate robberies. You just have to use it. ”
Okay, let’s try this … (turn on volume)#TwitchDoBetter pic.twitter.com/pvxyJ8Vw1S
– Art for the apocalypse (@thomsimonson) August 22, 2021
His example is the word “jogger” for which he scripted to recognize different permutations of the word. The script found 21.9 million variations, which would take 76 days without interruption to lock individually.
Because of this, streamers are calling on Twitch to find a platform-wide solution to the problem.
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