Twitch's logo (Image courtesy of Twitch)
In response to the trending hashtag #TwitchDoBetter, the streaming site promised to diminish the hostility towards the minorities with “channel-level ban evasion detection and account verification.”
As we all already know, Twitch has never been known for a healthy, friendly environment. But recently, as reported by PCGamer, the animosity has been intensified by ‘hate-raiding:’ when a streamer’s chat is flooded by a group of users spamming the same repeated hateful messages. The examples include calling for gay people to be publicly executed, declaring that random channels belong to the KKK or spitting out racial slurs like the N-word.
The hate has gotten worse to the point that people are initiating the #TwitchDoBetter call and hope to rebuild a welcoming environment for the marginalized communities.
Twitch then responded with a Twitter thread acknowledging the issue.
“We’ve seen a lot of conversation about botting, hate raids and other forms of harassment targeting marginalized creators,” it wrote. “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.”
The streaming site expressed its gratitude to those who shared their difficult experiences that help their team locate the vulnerability in the proactive filters, and has issued an update patching up the holes within the system.
Twitch is also building “channel-level ban evasion detection and account verification improvement,” which is set to arrive later this year.
The platform is also calling for users’ input to build a safer community, encouraging users to share feedback via UserVoice.
In fact, Twitch has released its first global transparency report earlier this year, and it showed that less than 15% of user reports led to enforcement actions. Moreover, only 2% of reports against hateful conduct and harassment reports were acted upon.
But with the announced upcoming filter and account verification, we can so far hope for a better experience on the streaming site.
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