Streamers protest hate raids with #ADayOffTwitch

Twitch streamers have organised a day-long strike against the platform in an effort to fight for more action against hate raids.

On September 1, streamers will be halting broadcasts under the #ADayOffTwitch protest, with the intention of sending a message to the platform by lowering its viewership and revenue numbers on the day.

The protest was arranged by streamer Rek It Raven, with support from fellow creators Lucia Everblack and Shineypen. Many other streamers have supported the movement via Twitter and have agreed to not stream on the day.

Marginalised creators on Twitch are suffering as a result of ongoing hate raids -- which sees a streamer attacked by an unmanageable wave of bots, follows and offensive chat messages while live. The raids are often so large and unyielding that Twitch's existing moderation tools are unable to handle them effectively.

Twitch pledged to take action against hate raids and other forms of harassment earlier this month. This response was prompted by the #TwitchDoBetter hashtag, which saw the community calling for the platform to address these issues.

The platform also added over 350 new tags to the service back in May, allowing streamers to add additional labels to their content. While this was intended to help streamers better identify themselves on the platform, creators in these spaces -- such as the LGBTQIA+, Black and Disabled communities -- have become targets for hate raids for using the tags.

Earlier this year, Twitch released its first global transparency report, which revealed that less than 15% of user reports led to enforcement actions. It also showed that only 2% of reports against harassment and hateful conduct led to action.

Last year, we ran an extensive report in which current and former employees at the company described a culture of indifference when it came to inappropriate, unsafe and abusive behaviour.