The past weekend has been filled with new revelations and accusations of sexual abuse, assault, and harassment on Twitter, from Ansel Elgort to Cole Sprouse and Justin Bieber. Several well-known Twitch streamers have also been dragged down with allegations.
The Outpour of Allegations of Harassment and Abuse
According to The New York Times, over 70 people--mostly women--have reported different kinds of abuse from the gaming community, ranging from gender-based discrimination to even sexual assault and harassment.
Many of them shared their stories on social media, including Twitter, YouTuber, a blogging platform called TwitLonger, as well as on Amazon-owned streaming site Twitch.
Among them is a Twitter user named Hollowtide who tweeted about an "unnamed top Destiny player" and called the gamer a "scum lord" for the awful things they have done, who apparently is known online as both SayNoToRage and Lono.
Everyone memes Lucky but theirs someone else at the top of the d2 directory who is a a bigger scum lord and people don’t even know the awful things they’ve done — ʜᴏʟʟᴏᴡ (@Hollowtide) June 19, 2020
Three female streamers, who saw the original post, decided to speak out about their experience with the gamer in question.
Over 200 Reports
A streamer by the alias JessyQuil or Jessica Richey, according to CNET, has also created a spreadsheet of the accusations that have been reported both publicly and anonymously on social media as well as responses regarding them, if there are any.
She acquired around 200 reports when she started a thread on Twitter.
After posting, she soon got reports from people who are tagging her on the platform or replied to her tweet, while others who did not want to be publicly known have sent her a direct message.
Nevertheless, Richey said she did not want to cast any judgments or start a witch hunt for the streamers in question, but she does want the victims to have a voice and to feel that they are not alone in the situation.
With all the stories that have come out, the gaming community has started responding to the controversies, with a CEO from a prominent talent management company stepping down and Twitch deciding to ban the streamers who have been accused.
Twitch Has Banned Accused Streamers
According to Engadget, the streaming platform has updated its followers with the progress of the actions they are undertaking after promising them that they are "actively looking into" the accounts of harassment and abuse against their streamers.
The company published a blog post that stated, "We are reviewing each case that has come to light as quickly as possible while ensuring appropriate due diligence as we assess these serious allegations."
They also said they are prioritizing the most severe cases and will be issuing permanent suspensions based on their findings.
In some cases, Twitch promised to report them to proper authorities to conduct a more thorough investigation.
Several banned streamers on the platform include Wolv21, BlessRNG, IAmSp00n, as well as WarwitchTV, with other names of the banned streamers available on a website called StreamerBans.
Although the response today is positive and far from the past responses from the gaming community, the streaming platform and others in the community believe that it is just the beginning, and there is more to be done.
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