Twitch streamers are planning to step away from the platform today for a day of protest. The goal of #DayOffTwitch is to bring attention to a recent burst of harassment in the form of “hate raids” directed toward marginalized creators. RekItRaven (who declined to share their full name) summed it up: “I’m tired of feeling like I’m not allowed to exist based off of circumstances that are out of my control, and I know other people are too.”
Many of the raids are automated. In some cases, the harassing messages posted by bots have overwhelmed chats to the point where streamers had to stop their streams. Automated hate. Let that sink in for a while. Automated hate.
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About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with AI strategy, implementation and governance, as well as technology, media and marketing. Named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Technology, he is a bestselling author, covers tech and business for Fox 5’s Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN, and writes the popular daily business blog Think About This. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.