Streamer slams Twitch as racist bots target black streamers and mock #TwitchDoBetter
Twitch/CriticalBardA Twitch streamer has exposed the racist abuse he and other black content creators are receiving with bots mocking the #TwitchDoBetter movement in the progress.
Streamers began the #TwitchDoBetter trend on social media amid an increase in “hate raids” on the platform.
These raids would see an army of racist bot accounts appear in a chat and spam racist language directed at the streamer and their communities.
Now, these bots are mocking the movement against them while continuing to fire off racist abuse at content creators.
(Content warning: racist language used in video below)
It was bound to happen eventually. #TwitchDoBetter pic.twitter.com/mbiN4FtLIb
— ΩMEGA JONES (@CriticalBard) August 10, 2021
Twitch streamer Omega Jones, also known as Critical Bard, took to Twitter to show exactly what he is experiencing in a video that has since spread like wildfire.
“People like to act like hate raids and follow bots that same some horrible ass sh*t don’t exist,” he said. “Allow me to show you example 1. What just happened about twenty minutes ago on my channel.”
As you can see in the video, the streamer was just doing his own thing when hundreds of bots appeared in his chat and proceeded to spam slurs along with “#TwitchDoBetter.”
There have been a MULTITUDE of suggestions at this point. Fix what's important and protect the marginalized creators on your platform, @Twitch.
This shit is past old.
— ΩMEGA JONES (@CriticalBard) August 10, 2021
“I honestly don’t need to continue,” Omega Jones added. “Twitch, do f**king better.”
The streamer’s mod team was able to deal with the attack. Along with using the Commander Root program, he was able to get rid of most of the bots.
“It should not be so easy for sh*t like this to happen. At all,” the streamer blasted. “There have been a MULTITUDE of suggestions at this point. Fix what’s important and protect the marginalized creators on your platform, Twitch. This sh*t is past old.”
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 (@Twitch) August 11, 2021
On August 11, Twitch finally addressed the controversy, announcing that it plans on taking steps to make the platform safer with the introduction of enhanced channel-level ban detection.
More improvements and tools for streamers are planned to be implemented in 2021.
