Twitch has added new tools to combat harassment on its platform. Twitch has announced that it will add phone verification chat controls to allow streamers to require viewers to have a verified number to chat. Twitch is also tweaking its existing email verification settings in order to give creators more control over who can chat.
Today, we are giving more power to the community by enabling phone verified conversation! Creators and mods now have the ability to require viewers to verify their account via email or phone before they can chat. For more information review the blog: https://t.co/TlqCS4OzQC Twitch (@Twitch) September 29, 2021
Creators now have the ability to set phone verification or email requirements for accounts below certain age limits. A streamer might make it so that accounts that are less than one week old, or have been following the streamer for less than a minute must have a verified number to chat. Streamers may also allow viewers to add exclusions for VIPs, subscribers, and mods. Twitch limits who can chat based upon having a verified number. This is to reduce hate raid incidents since unlikely bots often have their phone numbers linked to their accounts.
Twitch has also integrated ban evasion protections in its verification tools. You can connect up to five accounts to one phone number. All accounts that are associated with the same phone number will be suspended if one account is closed.
Creators are struggling to stay safe amid an explosion of abuse on the platform. These updates and tools arrive at a time when creators need them. Hate raids are harassment tactics that target marginalized streamers. These hate raids involve streamers being bombarded with hateful messages from hundreds of bot accounts, which can suddenly flood their chat. Streamers relied more on community-developed tools and resources, such as panic button programs and massbot-banning tools, to combat this.
Twitch was also criticized by creators who took to social media to criticize the platform's inept or slow response to hate attacks. To draw attention to the issue, streamers organized a Twitch Walkout. Twitch acknowledged the spike in hate raids and promised more tools to help creators. These tools are now available.
According to Angela Hession vice president of Twitch trust safety and security, phone verification is the culmination of months of hard work.
Hession tells The Verge that this tool was inspired by community feedback from many months back. Hession is aware that the new tools look reactive, but that they are still being developed because Twitch must account for all users from different areas and on different types of devices. Hession is also aware of the frustration streamers feel towards the platform.
Hession states that we need to be more clear about our safety priorities and progress, so that the community understands what were doing and why. Twitch's inflexibility can be due to a number of reasons.
Hession said that this is where we had difficulty, because most of our safety work happens behind the scenes. We don't want bad actors to see the technology we are working on.
We must be more clear about our safety priorities and our progress.
Hession claims that these tools are just one part of a multi-pronged strategy to combat harassment on the platform. Twitch filed an earlier complaint in US federal courts against two hate raiders. This suit will hopefully identify the two users, CruzzControl & CreatineOverdose. It also serves as deterrent to other malicious actors.
Hession states that legal action will help stop bad actors from doing this anywhere else on the internet. We are constantly improving our proactive detection filters. We have also banned thousands of bots because we improved our proactive detection filters. We will continue to tweak our filters as we discover that these bad actors are extremely motivated and innovative in their attempts to circumvent our filters.
Streamers can use this link to verify their phone. Hession wants Twitch users to understand that safety is their number one priority. It's a journey, not an end point.
Any person who experiences harassment or hate on our service is too many. We need to communicate that better.
