Black streamers write an open letter demanding Twitch create a less hostile streaming environment

Hate raids continue to plague Twitch’s community. In response, advocacy organization Colors of Change with notable Black streamers have penned an open letter urging the Amazon-owned platform to take action. The letter was aimed at Twitch CEO Emmet Shear, alongside their leadership staff.

The aim is to create a less hostile streaming platform, where streamers of any color or orientation do not have to fear being harassed.

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Twitch’s tweet leads to an open letter

On March 11, 2022, Twitch Support released a tweet talking about the latest wave of hate raids organized through another site. This allegedly came through the Cozy.tv streaming platform. Hate raids were organized through this site and the Tweet discussed this without naming the platform.

The streaming platform claims the hate has no place on their website, but February saw an incredibly large spike when it came to hate raids. This ultimately led to Colors of Change, a group dedicated to fighting injustice working with Black streamers to pen an open letter.

“We, the undersigned, represent Black Twitch streamers, technologists, and racial justice organizations that are leading the #TwitchDoBetter movement and working diligently to ensure a more humane and less hostile internet for Black people.”

The response to the recent hate raids left the group unsatisfied, so now they are trying to reach out to the platform via this open letter. The letter itself talked about how Amazon's platform promised a series of initiatives to celebrate Black creators on the site, but the site did very little to protect those streamers.

According to the open letter, streamers were harassed by racist attacks throughout the month and wanted the company to address their complicity in allowing racism to exist on the platform itself. The authors of the piece discussed demands previously requested of the streaming site but have heard nothing back about them.

Demands made by Colors of Change

• Easily accessible, well-communicated incident feedback loops involving harassment complaints
• Improved human moderation, in particular for Black creators featured on Twitch’s Front Page
• Organizational roles and policies that aid/advocate for users being harassed
• Commitment to a racial equity audit that allows the site to identify areas of growth and eliminate bias, discrimination, or hate on its platform

Though the streaming service did add phone-verified chat, the above demands about improved safety protocols were not addressed. According to the letter, these needs still need to be met, but there is no timeline on when or if these protocols will be put in place.

Black streamers want to feel safe on the platform, but they do not feel that the streaming platform is doing enough to help them. Instead, hate raids and doxing continue to occur on the website.

The letter ends with a powerful statement by the authors, asking that the company make its commitment to Black streamers more than just a slogan or a message during February.

“The celebration of Black brilliance and Black joy should not be limited to February. Twitch should explore ways to boost the discoverability of Black streamers every day, provide support to Black creators featured on the Front Page every time, and ensure that Black creators feel safe doing what we love: streaming with the community we’ve poured into over the last few years. We are demanding that you make your commitment to Black streamers transparent and tangible, now. #TwitchDoBetter”

As of this writing, the streaming platform has not made a response to the open letter, but it’s clear that Black content creators on the platform do not feel safe or protected by the content platform that they create. An open letter can be found here for those interested in reading and signing it.