Black streamers partner with Color of Change to advocate for improved conditions on Twitch

Several prominent Black streamers on Twitch have partnered with Color of Change, an advocacy group focused on racial discrimination, and have levied several demands to improve conditions for creators on the platform.

Last year, Twitch was swarmed with hate raids targeting Black content creators on the platform. These hate raids resulted in the Day Off Twitch campaign, calling on the streaming giant to improve systems on the website to protect its marginalized creators. While Twitch implemented phone verification as a means of security against bots, hate raids have once again resurfaced on the platform.

In collaboration with Color of Change, an open letter was issued to Twitch, saying that the company had not acted in all ways it could to protect content creators after initial hate raids. While Twitch claims to be “listening to creators and building solutions to help stop unwanted harassment,’ it still has not offered a timeline for when these demands will be met, if at all,” the letter reads.

In response to the new waves of hate raids that primarily attacked content creators during the month of February, the letter mentioned three demands that were left unmet after the first Day Off Twitch campaign. The demands include:

• Improved content moderation practices and resources, mentioned that this is especially important for Black creators featured on Twitch’s home page.
• Roles and policies in place to aid Twitch users who are undergoing hate raids or suffering from racial slurs.
• Commitment to a racial equity edit that would allow Twitch to identify and combat areas of bias or discrimination within the platform.

This resurged campaign and open letter were released alongside a video featuring the experiences of four streamers: iamBrandon, A_TypicalQueer, RealMamaEagle, and ItsLadyKit. The letter has designated room for co-signers, which will be sent to Twitch as a formal request.