Twitch reveals how often police were contacted for “credible threats of violence” in 2020

Twitch has revealed a wealth of new information in its 2020 transparency report, including details on when the platform contacts and works with law enforcement.

On March 2, the Amazon-owned streaming site released its first-ever global transparency report, covering January to December 2020.

The report details how its moderation levels increased from the first to the second half of the year, actions taken to prevent harassment, inappropriate content and even information about law enforcement.

While not exactly a common occurrence, there are some incidents that happen on Twitch that eventually result in police being contacted. This can be more likely to take place within the realm of IRL streams.

As Dexerto has reported, IRL streams can be some of the craziest out there, with streamers sometimes filming brawls or even receiving threats against themselves.

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According to this latest information provided by Twitch, “Whenever and wherever Twitch identifies credible threats of violence, Twitch will proactively send user data to appropriate law enforcement agencies.”

The site says that in 2020, there were 38 such cases. However, the majority took place during the first half of the year. Twitch suspects this is because of the decrease in public gatherings caused by the global health crisis.

“The lack of public gatherings means there are fewer places and events for people to direct violent threats toward,” Twitch wrote.

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Additionally, Twitch stated that when they are made aware of content depicting child exploitation or grooming behavior, they remove the content and report authorities via the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

There was a 66% increase from the first half of the year to the second, which Twitch says is due to improvements to their investigation process.

Furthermore, the site revealed that they compile data requests from law enforcement around the world in relation to crimes they may be investigating.

They say that the number of subpoenas and preservation requests processed increased by 37% in the second half of the year, but this was within the volume they expected.