Twitch players strike to protest racist harassment – franceinfo

They ask the very popular streaming service to better protect them. Players on the Twitch platform have called a strike on live broadcasts on Wednesday, September 1, to protest the wave of racist and misogynistic harassment that many content creators are facing.

“Today is #ADayOffTwitch (” a day without Twitch “) and frankly … it’s cathartic”, tweeted RekItRaven, a black player who had already launched in early August the slogan #TwitchDoBetter (“Twitch needs to do better”).

Today is #ADayOffTwitch and honestly – it feels cathartic.

I’ll be spending this time with my family, gaming and hanging with friends and just taking a fucking breath.

This is not the end. But fuck, I am going to enjoy today.

That’s #MyDayOffTwitch

– ʀᴇᴋ ɪᴛ, ʀᴀᴠᴇɴ! ☠ (@RekItRaven) September 1, 2021

Twitch, which is owned by Amazon, receives more than 30 million visitors per day. They often view video game games with live commentary by the players themselves, and can interact with them and other spectators.

But in recent months, the phenomenon of “hate raids” – “hate raids” – has taken on an unprecedented scale, according to the victims. Their windows of conversation are regularly and suddenly submerged by insults relating to their skin color, their sexual orientation, their religion … Even by calls to suicide or ultra violent images.

A spokesperson for the platform told AFP that Twitch “supported the right of streamers to speak out and report important issues”. “No one should have to be attacked with malicious intent for who they are or their opinions, and we’re working hard to keep banned accounts out of the cracks, as well as on improvements to make Twitch safer for creators.”, he detailed.