What Is #ADayOffTwitch? Hate Raids Prompt User Boycott
Users are boycotting Twitch as #ADayOffTwitch gains traction, users are calling for more awareness towards safety due to hate raids on black, queer, and disabled people.
Some users feel there are not enough regulations in place to control “hate raids” which is an influx of comments take over a user’s stream that says offensive and hurtful comments.
The boycott was created by RekitRaven, ShineyPen, and Lucia Everblack who want to bring attention to issues that a lot of Twitch streamers suffer from.
Twitch streamer, Raven, spoke about a time that they were raided during a stream when bots attacked her chat asking the question "Hey are black Goths called Giggers?" according to an interview with NPR.
Raven told NPR that being called “fat, black and you're a woman,” are normal hate comments that she is “used to,” but it was when the attackers would start to include her address, personal information, and comments about her children is when it started to become a real safety issue.
The Twitch community says that these types of invading raids are specifically racist, sexist, and transphobic.
Plans for a boycott have been coming together since July, users eventually set a date for the boycott to be Sep 1.
Twitch caught on to the boycott and tweeted on Aug. 20 showing that they do feel the platform should be calling for more action and “doing more,” and that they know exactly what they need to do.
“We’ve seen a lot of conversation about botting, hate raids, and other forms of harassment targeting marginalized creators. 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,” Twitch said.
There has been a noticeable silence on Twitch from some of the site's most popular streamers but some think that giving into “not streaming” is giving the bots and raiders exactly what they want.
“I accept that not everyone will be on board with supporting #ADayOffTwitch,” ShineyPen told The Verge.
“I believe that many, not all, of these bigger creators, are speaking from a privileged perspective.”
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