Twitch introduces new safety tools for streamers

Streaming giant Twitch is introducing a host of new features to make using the platform safer for streamers and their communities

Twitch, the game streaming giant owned by Amazon, has announced a whole host of safety features that should allow all streamers, big and small, to have more control over who interacts with their live streams.

The big new feature is something called Shield Mode, which allows streamers to quickly change the safety and interaction settings of their channels with a single click. While it’s not strictly a new feature in and of itself, it combines a lot of existing safety features into an easily accessible one-click solution.

It’s also highly customisable to each streamer’s preferences. For example, one streamer could make it so that, when Shield Mode is active, only people who follow or subscribe to them are allowed to talk in the chat, while another streamer could decide to require any chatters to have verified their accounts via phone or email.

Twitch started its life as a gaming spin-off of Justin.tv, which was a general-interest platform that is now defunct. Picture: Twitch

Shield Mode is designed to help streamers and their communities stay safe in a pinch, such as when a wave of targeted harassment starts. The idea is that, if a bunch of bad actors start invading chat, the streamer can quickly activate Shield Mode, and the settings set by the streamer should deter the worst of it until the moment passes.

To aid in this goal, two actually brand-new safety features have been announced. The first is the option to mass-ban users who use specific words set by the streamer while in Shield Mode. For example, if an LGBT+ streamer starts getting harassment, they can instantly ban anyone who uses slurs that target their identity.

The second new feature is an option to disable chatting for anyone who hasn’t previously chatted in the channel. This is a powerful new tool that would outright prevent the kind of rolling harassment that often comes towards streamers by only allowing existing members of a community to interact.

Twitch holds an annual event each year called “Twitchcon”, which celebrates streamers on the platform. Photo: Martin BUREAU/AFP

As reported by PC Gamer, the new features come after a wave of what’s been called “hate raids” which came into prominence last year. Malicious actors would send thousands of bots or real people into the chat of a streamer, bombarding the chat with slurs and insults.

Of course, these tools are only as good as the chat moderators using them, as streamers themselves can’t always keep a close eye on chat. A top 10 Twitch streamer, xQc, said recently that he doesn’t pay his moderators, despite bringing in millions of dollars annually from streaming on the platform.

These new safety tools also don’t do much to combat controversial content on the platform. Twitch streamer Trainwreckstv recently won big after betting on the World Cup, but many say that gambling such as betting and poker shouldn’t be allowed on Twitch at all.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.