JiDion’s permanent ban for organizing a hate raid on Pokimane could signal a tougher Twitch stance on hate raids in the future.
Twitch has been embroiled in a battle with hate raids for months. Twitch streamers who have been around for a while are used to dealing with the occasional troll, but banning one rude viewer isn’t the same as trying to control hundreds or thousands of bot accounts that flood the streamer’s chat with harmful messages.
Twitch released new tools a few months ago to help mitigate bot accounts’ influence on Twitch chats, but that system isn’t necessarily effective against other types of hate raids. Rather than using bots as proxies, real people can still plan raids in which they all join a streamer’s chat and harass the streamer in person.
Pokimane was forced to cancel a 12-hour stream after a raid forced her to do so rather than subject her viewers to harassment. JiDion, a YouTuber and Twitch streamer known for his prank content, was the mastermind behind the raid. JiDion was initially suspended from Twitch for 14 days, but Twitch has since doubled down and made the ban permanent.
Twitch’s harsher punishment appears to be linked to the company’s ongoing internal battle to prevent hate raids. JiDion’s suspension could be intended to serve as a warning to other streamers to avoid hate raiding.
JiDion deserved to be banned for sending his viewers into Pokimane’s chat and spamming harassing messages; even JiDion has admitted that he broke the rules and deserved to be banned. What’s interesting about his case is that Twitch escalated his ban just a few days after he received his first punishment.
After the incident, many streamers expressed sympathy for Pokimane, saying that JiDion was just the latest in a long line of misogynistic figures who harassed her. JiDion has since claimed that he did not target her for sexist reasons, and that the outpouring of support is what led to his Twitch ban being upgraded.
JiDion’s increased ban may, however, have less to do with his treatment of Pokimane and more to do with the broader issue of hate raids. Twitch is currently attempting to repair its reputation following a tumultuous 2021, in which streamers demanded Twitch take action faster on hate raids.
Despite the fact that Twitch has banned 15 million bot accounts and given streamers tools to keep harassers out of chat, JiDion’s raid demonstrates that hate raids continue to be a problem. While Twitch has systems in place to punish hate raids, there aren’t many ways to prevent hate raids from happening in the first place.
It’s possible that JiDion’s permanent ban has something to do with it. It’s possible that Twitch has decided to make an example of JiDion, demonstrating to streamers and other users that coordinating any kind of hate raid will result in severe consequences.
Twitch stated in a recent open letter about safety that it wants to improve its ability to deter negative behavior, and JiDion’s suspension could be part of that effort. If malevolent users are sufficiently intimidated by Twitch’s tough stance on hate raids, some of the raids may be prevented before they start.
Twitch’s strong reaction to JiDion could portend more significant changes in the future. Twitch has said it’s working on more safety tools for its streamers, and when combined with a tougher stance on raid moderating, there’s a new hope that hate raids will fade away by 2022 and beyond.
JiDion is campaigning to have his 14-day ban lifted, but given that his ban is linked to one of Twitch’s most serious issues right now, it’s unlikely that Twitch will be sympathetic in his case. JiDion, on the other hand, could be just the first of many people to face harsh punishment for taking part in hate raids.
