Twitch streamers positive about new raid feature in response to harassment

At TwitchCon Amsterdam, streaming giant Twitch announced a number of new safety features coming soon to the platform.

This includes the ability for streamers to customise who can “raid” them, plus the ability to share a list of banned accounts with other streamers. Both of these features are in response to the mass wave of hate raids that affected marginalised streamers last year.

The features were introduced at the opening ceremony by Twitch CEO Emmett Shear: “We’re never going to be done with safety on Twitch, it’s a goal without end.

“When we say we want Twitch to be the best place to be a streamer, we mean making your experience with chat safe to be an essential part of that goal. One major priority for us is raising the safety baseline – that’s the level of protection you can expect from Twitch without having to do anything at all.”

So how can raids be customised? Streamers will be able to set an upper and lower threshold as to the number of viewers in a potential incoming raid, as well as the age of the account.

They can further customise whether raids can come from teammates, followed channels, subscribers, and more. Raid controls will be more easily accessible while live. They can also be turned off completely.

Sharing banned accounts between streamers “helps the community protect each other before harassment can spread,” said Shear.

It’s unclear how soon these new features will be implemented, but streamers from marginalised groups are positive about the changes.

“I think it’s a good safety feature because right now your only option is no raids or people you follow and there’s no inbetween,” streamer CypherOfTyr told Eurogamer. “So I like it because it steps the verification process. I don’t know if it will stop hate raids because when people are determined, they’re determined. But I do think it will be a big help.”