Twitch has been updating a lot of the smaller aspects of its service over the last month, but arguably the biggest change came in the form of a much harsher penalty for users who are banned from a streamer’s chat.
Instead of just being unable to participate in the chat to further annoy or interact with someone who has banned them, any user who is banned by a streamer will be unable to see chat at all, and any additional accounts they make will also be shadowbanned through their IP address.
This is one way Twitch is trying to control toxic users who pop into streamers’ chats simply to say rude or offensive things in an attempt to get attention or ruin the experience for other users. By putting harsher implications on the ban feature, broadcasters hold more power over their streaming experience.
Essentially, streamers will now be able to easily curate what viewers they don’t want in their community by simply banning them thanks to this updated system.
Banned users can no longer just make an alternate account and jump back into a chat to continue being toxic. IP shadowbans will keep them from being able to interact with any streamer that has banned them until the broadcaster or one of their mods lift the ban, and if a ban is lifted for one account, the entire IP address will have the shadowban removed.
Any banned user will also be removed from a streamer’s following list, and once that is in effect, they will be unable to refollow, whisper, host, or purchase gifted subs in relation to the channel they were banned from.
More information about other small aspects of this new support update are still being discovered, but you can find out more about the various tools a streamer has to curate their community and other support information on the Twitch Support website.
