FIGHTING BACK

Twitch Sues Two Users Who Harassed, Doxxed Minority Players

The users allegedly forced players to end their streams due to the harassment, the company said.

Twitch, the video game streaming platform, has sued two of its users who allegedly conducted “hate raids” on creators who identify as LGBT, Black, or other racial minorities, BuzzFeed News reported Saturday. In its lawsuit, filed Thursday, Twitch alleges that users “CruzzControl” and “CreatineOverdose” doxxed some users, filled their streams’ chats with hate slurs, and posted links to gory videos. The company said it banned the two initial accounts, but the users continued to make new accounts and bots designed to target the afflicted creators. The attacks forced those affected to stop streaming until they stopped, preventing the creators from engaging with their communities and cutting off a source of revenue, Twitch said.

It said it had spent a considerable amount of resources toward combatting the users, but “Twitch has been and will continue to be harmed” and should receive damages, attorneys’ fees, and legal protection against the users, it said in the lawsuit. The company said it could not identify the two users’ names but believes they hail from the Netherlands and Austria. The company has repeatedly faced criticism for not protecting content creators, with more than 400,000 viewers participating in the #ADayOffTwitch last week to protest inaction.