Twitch has been hit by a new wave of hate raids, this time from an unknown source.
Hate raids on Twitch streamers are being hosted and encouraged by Cozy.tv. This comes after a new wave of abuse on the platform forced women and LGBTQ+ creators to end their streams early, which they linked back to the small, alt-right Twitch competitor.
Spam has been reported in Twitch chat rooms, Discord servers, and DMs by the affected streamers. The spam is typically homophobic and transphobic, forcing creators to cut their streams short. Fuentes has responded positively to the abuse he has received as a result of his platform, implying that there will be no moderation on his part to stop it.
The recent wave of abuse was first brought to light by streamers EarthToBre, Blizzb3ar, and xProvexx. Fuentes, a self-described incel, responded by mocking those who complained about the abuse.
Twitch has indicated that it will take action if Cozy.tv does not moderate itself. It revealed that the accounts involved in the abuse had already been suspended from using its platform.
However, because the majority of the harassment is coming from outside of Twitch, the company has reaffirmed its commitment to take legal action against those who harass its content creators. It has done so in the past, when hate-crime raids were first in the news. It’s unclear whether this means Twitch will go after Fuentes, who has already been banned from the platform (among many others).
Twitch has remained silent on the matter since the initial reports. It ended its statement with practical advice for streamers to follow right now, in the hopes of reducing the chances of being targeted by a hate raid while Twitch considers its options. This comes on top of the tools it debuted last year.
