Streamers on Twitch are planning to stop streaming on September 1st. The reason is, to protest platform issues related to hate speech and harassment.
The protests follow an earlier response, titled #TwitchDoBetter, on Twitter in early August. Twitch is judged inadequate and flaccid in responding to racist, sexist, transphobic or xenophobic attacks that streamers from marginalized communities experience.
The users of this streaming service also call it a hate attack. With the new hashtag #ADayOffTwitch, popular streamers, including Rek It Raven and Lucia Everblack, are planning to take a day off from the site.
"We continue the fight and let's welcome @LuciaEverblack and @ShineyPen who helped me to #ADayOffTwitch on September 1st from livestreaming," wrote Rek It Raven in a post on Twitter.
In practice, these attacks involve bad actors, whose identities are unknown and send bot accounts to harass targets. However, what Twitch promised, to strengthen the defenses of its bot detection system, didn't work out well.
This new harassment trend, may cause some streamers to worry about their safety and the integrity of the site. However, as a big name platform, Twitch must find better ways to fight toxicity for the sake of its users and contributors.
This is considering, millions of people consume content there and the service takes considerable advantage of the streamers. That makes it a huge platform that is both financially and culturally successful.
It is not yet known whether the imminent strike will force Twitch to take more drastic action. Before the hate speech on their site, it got even bigger and out of control.
Meanwhile, to date, his posts on Twitter have received 5,179 Retweets, 1,551 Quote Tweets and 6,882 Likes.
