Twitch Takes Legal Action on View-botting
By Halios One constant problem that has plagued Twitch for a long time has been Bots. View-bots, follow-bots, and chat-bots have been rampant all over Twitch, storming the streamer with alerts and text that tends to cause a shock to the streamer. These bots can be bought, both by streamer and viewer, from many retailers online but they are completely against TOS for Twitch and will result in Partnership removal (if partnered), denial of any chance for Partnership, or even perma-ban from Twitch itself.
Some may ask why you would use Bots at all for all the risks that come with it. The idea of being noticed and bringing in actual viewers is too tempting sometimes so people will take the risk to gain exposure. Twitch lists the streamers from largest viewer base to smallest, so a huge boost to viewers makes the streamer appear much higher than they normally would. Or Bots can be used to harass a streamer. Someone might be upset at how a streamer has acted or is jealous of the streamer so they get a Chat-bot (a bot that fills the chat with troll-like messages) to spam the streamer. It usually causes confusion, frustration, or anger in the streamer which tends to be the exact reaction the buyer wanted.
Twitch has been working hard to combat these bots in various ways. First, they’ve advanced their technology to be able to detect false viewers and remove them. Along with this, they have employees constantly moderating channels and responding to reports of view-botting. And, now, they have added a new level to combat these Bots by attacking the source of the Bots: their developers.
Twitch is now seeking legal action against seven of the largest companies that develop view-bots. According to the Court Documents, Twitch is seeking damages and having these companies shut down completely. Yes, there are more companies out there than just seven but taking down huge companies like the ones listed will put a huge dent and will possibly scare smaller companies into ceasing their actions. Ultimately, though, the best way to make sure that these companies and view-botting doesn’t continue at all is to never buy their products and avoid talking about them on stream.
The original source material can be found here!
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