Twitch Sues Two 'Hate Raid' Bot Creators
Twitch sued two users who created bots used to bombard streamers with racist, sexist, and otherwise bigoted messages.
Twitch has reportedly sued two of its users for allegedly creating bots designed to assist with "hate raids" that bombard streamers with racist, sexist, and otherwise bigoted messages.
Wired reported that Twitch filed its lawsuit against the users, known only as "Cruzzcontrol" and "CreatineOverdose," in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The company reportedly said in the filing that it's tried suspending and banning the users but can't keep pace with their ability to continue to conduct hate raids by creating new accounts.
Twitch said that Cruzzcontrol is responsible for 3,000 bots associated with recent hate raids. CreatineOverdose was accused of showing off bot software that "could be used to spam Twitch channels with racial slurs, graphic descriptions of violence against minorities, and claims that the hate raiders are the 'KK K.'" Both have also updated their tactics to evade Twitch's safeguards.
Cruzzcontrol and CreatineOverdose were also accused of being part of a "hate raiding community" active on "other gaming-related social media platforms, including but not limited to Discord and Steam." So far Twitch only knows their usernames and their approximate locations. (The Netherlands for Cruzzcontrol and Vienna, Austria for CreatineOverdose.)
But that's not for lack of trying. Twitch said:
Twitch expanded significant resources combatting Defendants' attacks. Twitch spent time and money investigating Defendants, including through use of its fraud detection team. Twitch also engineered technological and other fixes in an attempt to stop Defendants' harassing and hateful conduct. These updates include but are not limited to implementing stricter identity controls with accounts, machine learning algorithms to detect bot accounts that are used to engage in harmful chat and augmenting the banned word list. Twitch mobilized its communications staff to address the community harm flowing from the hate raids and assured its community that it was taking proactive measures to stop them. Twitch also worked with impacted streamers to educate them on moderation toolkits for their chats and solicited and responded to streamers' and users' comments and concerns.
Those efforts haven't proven effective. Twitch said Cruzzcontrol, CreatineOverdose, and others involved with hate raids have continued to target "black and LGBTQIA+ streamers with racist, homophobic, sexist and other harassing content." The Washington Post also reported in August that many victims of hate raids feel they have grown increasingly problematic in recent months.
Twitch's lawsuit seeks to prevent Cruzzcontrol, CreatineOverdose, and anyone associated with them from accessing its platform in addition to "an award to Twitch of restitution and damages, including, but not limited to, enhanced, liquidated, compensatory, special, and punitive damages, and all other damages permitted by law" as well as costs incurred by the suit itself.