Hate Raids Have Returned

Hate raids have spread over Twitch once more. This time, though, viewers from a completely new platform are targeting LGBTQIA+ Twitch streamers.

Streamers such as EarthToBre, Blizzb3ar, and xProvexx were all among the first to report on hate raids stemming from Cozy.tv.  Users descending on Twitch reportedly bombarded creators’ DMs with abusive, homophobic messages, spamming Twitch chatrooms and Discord services. According to EarthToBre, people on Cozy.tv who encouraged the hate raids also retweeted and mocked the targeted streamers’ broadcasts. While running a sponsored stream, Blizzb3ar was the target of one of these hate raids, and was compelled to cease it early owing to the sheer amount and venomous tone of the messages.

xProvexx, a Twitter user, swiftly identified the source of the hate raids, pointing to the website Cozy.tv. Nick Fuentes, the co-founder of the conservative streaming website, issued a statement claiming responsibility for the harassment while also encouraging it. Fuentes has been banned from Twitch, Reddit, and YouTube for being a known white nationalist and far-right supporter. This isn’t the first time Twitch has had to deal with a horde of haters. After a delayed response to an early round of hate raids, Twitch suffered major backlash from its creators in August 2021. Twitch responded by implementing phone verification in September 2021 as a means of combating the bot accounts utilized in these raids. 

The creator of the Sery Bot, which had previously been utilized to discourage past hate raids, reacted to their abrupt reappearance. The bot is designed to detect hate raids in real time and issue bans to those that participate. Sery, on the other hand, suggested that streamers hire trustworthy moderators and employ Twitch’s features like emote-only mode and phone and email verification in tandem.