What is swatting? Taking a deep dive into some of the recent streamer swatting incidents

One of the few negative elements of streaming culture is the practice of swatting, a form of online harassment prone to becoming fatal for the streamers involved. In the month of August alone, multiple accounts of high-profile streamers getting swatted have emerged.

Twitch megastar Adin Ross and IShowSpeed, one of the most popular creators on YouTube, fell prey to swatting on August 9 as armed policemen entered their homes.

However, those weren't the only victims this month. Keffals, a trans political streamer living in London, Ontario, was allegedly arrested at gunpoint from her home on the night of August 5, after she was swatted by trolls. Media outlets have noted that this was not just a prank, but deliberate anti-trans harassment.

Yesterday, another popular Twitch streamer got swatted while streaming Call of Duty Warzone. This time, however, the incident was not serious as the officer appeared to be familiar with Twitch and was praised on social media for his cool countenance.

With so many streamers being swatted in the recent past, let's explore the incidents that have rocked the streaming community as a whole.

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Tracing the recent swattings in the streaming community

Being swatted is not a trifling matter. In essence, it is an effort to coordinate law enforcement against the intended victim. While it's meant to evoke humor in most cases, there have been instances where police have injured people.

For instance, one can point to the infamous 2017 Wichita swatting incident, in which police accidentally shot and killed a man. Fortunately, the recent events did not go that far. But some of the streamers were surely shaken up, especially Keffals and IShowSpeed, both of whom were arrested by the police.

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Adin Ross' case

In yesterday's Twitch stream, Adin Ross went into detail about his swatting experience. He claimed that while the police searched his home, both he and his girlfriend were handcuffed. He further described how stressful it was to have thirty armed cops shout at him out of nowhere.

Ross made it obvious that the officers were "cool" and did not act rashly after discovering the reality of the prank. That does not mean he had a positive experience, however. Describing the event as traumatizing, Ross took to Twitter to dispel any rumors about the incident and to reassure his community of his wellbeing:

"I’ll obviously update you guys on the full story later on when I'm ready to come out with that the whole story but traumatizing man, it's scary, it's what comes with being in this position and we're still in shock."

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Adin Ross bails out IShowSpeed

In recent news, IShowSpeed was arrested from the back of his house as a group of policemen handcuffed him and took him away. The Ohio native was outside his house lighting his old PlayStation on fire when the police appeared. The clip, titled "wtf," was uploaded to his official YouTube channel and was filmed by IShowSpeed's friend, who also recorded his arrest.

In a later stream, IShowSpeed revealed that he had to go to jail and extended his thanks to Adin Ross for bailing him out:

"But I do want to give out a shoutout thanks to my man Aiden for bailing me out... I really appreciate him bro."

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Keffals gets swatted by transphobes

The swatting of Clara "Keffals" was different from the other two as it was allegedly motivated by transphobes trying to harm her. Clara is a trans streamer who's been outspoken about her LGBTQ+ beliefs, despite being the target of transphobia for years.

The swatting was especially harrowing for the streamer as she was arrested from her home on August 5. The arrest took place after emails impersonating Keffals were sent to authorities, alleging that she would commit mass murder in the near future.

In a video titled "My life is in danger. I need your help," the streamer explained how the swatting affected her and how she was mistreated by the police who constantly used her pre-transition name:

"It was a crime that was motivated by hatred against transgender people. It was a hate crime perpetrated against me. Instead of the police helping me, they terrorized me and my loved ones."

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A different swatting

On a lighter note, Nadia Amine was swatted yesterday while playing Call of Duty Warzone on Twitch. This time, however, the situation was nowhere near as distressing as the aforementioned swattings. The officer who showed up cordially joined the stream, sitting beside Nadia.

He interacted with the chat and appeared to be well versed with Twitch, asking viewers to start a hype train and sub to her channel before requesting her to finish the paperwork:

"She needs five more subs to hit that goal still. Somebody give her those five subs. Come on now. Let's get that hype train going. Let's go! Come on, guys."

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With so many swatting reports in the month of August alone, and most of them being quite dangerous, the streaming community as a whole is on edge. With proficient hackers all around, it is difficult to mask one's address online.

Using a VPN and ensuring personal information is not leaked on stream is the best that streamers can do for now.