finally a real viewer ban, but an insufficient solution

Twitch is currently testing an option allowing streamers to prevent users banned from their chat from watching live. An additional way to prevent harassment on the platform, which many streamers are victims of.

For a very long time, streamers have been able to ban viewers of their live on Twitch. This means that they can no longer interact in the chat. However, this does not completely prevent harassment: they can still create music videos and incite hatred on social networks. That’s why Twitch is testing a new feature, preventing them from watching the channels on which they are banned.

Twitch wants to go further in banning certain users

It was during a Twitch live dedicated to the platform’s patch notes that the latter announced the arrival of a function dedicated to streamers. As streamer Lowco (who specializes in how the platform works) reported on X — the new name of Twitter — it is not available at the moment. When this option is activated, users banned from a channel will no longer be able to watch the lives of said channel.

This feature will be rolled out next month and will be optional. It will work instantly, which means that the viewers banned will see the live cut off. However, this will not prevent them from watching replays and clips, although Twitch clarifies that this is temporary.

A welcome feature, but not flawless

Still, that doesn’t stop a vehement user from simply logging out of their account to re-watch a stream they’ve been banned from. Indeed, the ban does not apply to a device or an IP address.

During the live announcement of the option, Twitch officials explained that there were some difficulties in setting this up. Community health manager Trevor Fisher says he still wanted the feature, saying a lot of streamers were asking for it.

Does Twitch Displace Harassment?

On social networks, several streamers congratulated the initiative, inviting Twitch to go further. The Avamind streamer, for example, encourages the platform to verify user numbers “ to avoid endless account creation “, in a message published on X.

Nat’ali, also a streamer and activist against cyberbullying, particularly against women, also praised the initiative in one thread out of Xwhile remaining nuanced: “ it’s good, it’s moving in the right direction, with almost non-existent speed but still. »

The streamer clarifies that if this decision is not complemented by more difficulties “ to create new Twitch accounts, it’s not going to be amazing. The more steps we add, the more the stalkers will be lazy, there we finally have step 1 “. According to Nat’ali, ” it will not help for the harassment but just move the harassment “. She says she is in favor of identification by IP address.

To follow us, we invite you to download our Android and iOS application. You can read our articles, files, and watch our latest YouTube videos.