Twitch Unveils Fresh Tools to End Hate Raiding
Following reports that emerged earlier this week, Twitch has formally introduced a fresh set of verification-based tools with the aim of combating the increasingly widespread issue of hate raiding.
Twitch’s once controversial raid feature was initially intended to be a straightforward means for streamers to share their audiences. It enabled them to redirect all the viewers currently watching their broadcast to a targeted channel. Regrettably, malevolent users promptly began to take advantage of this feature. They set up fake accounts and bots to inundate the chats of often marginalized streamers, subjecting them to doxing, harassment, and attacks.
Following a successful 24-hour strike by streamers last month as a protest against Twitch’s perceived inaction in addressing this problem, the company stated that it was “diligently working on enhanced channel-level ban evasion detection and additional account enhancements to make Twitch a safer haven for creators.” And now, the initial outcomes of those efforts have been officially disclosed.
A peek into Twitch’s new streamer options.
As previously reported, these novel tools primarily revolve around phone and email verification, granting streamers greater control over their channels by allowing them to precisely determine who obtains chat privileges. “Phone verified chat provides Creators with more precise control over who can engage in chat. It enables them to require some or all users to verify a phone number before participating in the chat,” Twitch explains. “In conjunction with updated and more detailed email verification settings, Creators will now be able to utilize email and phone verification simultaneously to meet their specific requirements.”
The new tools are accessible from today via Twitch’s Creator Dashboard. They offer streamers and their moderators a variety of verification-based options (disabled by default) for restricting access to chat. For instance, phone and/or email verification can be mandated for all accounts, for first-time chatters, for chatters with accounts registered within a certain period (pre-specified options range from one hour to six months), and for chatters who have followed a channel for less than the specified time – with default options ranging from 10 minutes to three months. VIPs, Subscribers, and Moderators can be designated as exempt from verification requirements.
Regarding how things will operate from the viewer’s perspective, Twitch indicates that users will be able to verify up to five accounts per mobile phone number (landlines or VOIP numbers cannot be used for verification purposes) to accommodate those who need to manage more than one account. However, to prevent ban evasion, if one phone-verified account is suspended site-wide, all accounts associated with that number will also be suspended site-wide, and users will not be able to create new accounts using that number.
A comparable system, expanded to incorporate email verification, is in effect at the channel level. If one phone- or email-verified account is banned by a channel, all other accounts linked to that phone number or email will also be prohibited from chatting in that channel.
“No solitary technological solution can completely halt the behavior of bad actors,” Twitch notes. “However, this new obstacle will function within our continuously evolving suite of technologies and tools, significantly slowing them down and reducing the number of channels they can impact.”
Additional particulars about Twitch’s new system, including a FAQ addressing issues for both streamers and viewers, can be found in its announcement post.
