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Sources:
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/09/twitch-sues-two-users-targeted-lgbtq-gamers-threatening-hate-raids/
https://dotesports.com/streaming/news/hate-raids-return-to-twitch-another-wave-of-attacks-target-lgbtqia-streamers
https://twitter.com/TwitchSupport/status/1502433506739294209
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/03/twitch-investigating-white-nationalist-launches-anti-lgbtq-hate-raid/?utm_source=LGBTQ+Nation+Subscribers&utm_campaign=9d9b50ac70-20220316_LGBTQ_Nation_Daily_Brief&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c4eab596bd-9d9b50ac70-432850000
Another wave of “hate raids” recently flooded through streaming platform Twitch, with users from external platforms targetting LGBTQI+ Twitch users with hateful and homophobic messages spamming personal DMs, chatrooms, and Discord servers.
The raids were linked to the convervative streaming website Cozy.tv, whose co-founder Nick Fuentes mocked those asking the website to take action, and encouraged fueled them further, Dot Esports reports.
“It’s delicious to me, to see the seething and the panic: the panic-stricken transgender individual, the panic-stricken libtard, when there’s no moderator, there’s no admin, there’s no report button” Fuentes, an infamous white nationalist, said in a video that gets increasingly crass.
This is not the first time that users on Twitch have been targeted by hate raids – last year two users used bots to make hundreds of queerphobic and racist comments. In addition to the impacts of facing this violence, these attacks can have a devastating effect on Twitch streamers’ whose incomes depend on the platform.
“Bad actors have been coordinating off-Twitch to target women and LGBTQ+ members of our community with spammy and hateful chat messages. Hate has no place on Twitch, and we’ve identified and suspended the Twitch accounts of the individuals participating,” Twitch released in a statement after the recent attack.
These attacks don’t exist in a bubble: this year, lawmakers have continued their attack on trans youth through legislation that attempts to bans their access to lifesaving healthcare, living with their supportive families, safe school spaces, sports, and books that hold stories of shared experiences.
“We may never be able to fix Twitch… but we can absolutely have an immediate effect on the culture around us, and that will at least provide a little bit more safety for people,” Twitch streamer Omega “Critical Bard” Jones, who has faced constant harassment, told the Washington Post.
How far can safety policies on social media go when the culture around endorses hate?