Popular Twitch streamer Kaitlyn ‘Amouranth‘ Siragusa has had almost 300,000 followers removed from her channel, shortly after receiving a massive boost after a controversial ban.
Returning from a three-day ban in mid-September, Amouranth became by far the fastest-growing streamer on Twitch, gaining a total 410,000 in the seven days after her return.
Despite the huge gain, and with no relative increase in her average viewership, there was little reason to suspect anything odd – given how viral the controversy surrounding her ban had become. Google searches for her name had skyrocketed, for example, something she pointed out herself.
It's literally impossible to predict what will blow up on the internet. This banning drama has made me more relevant that everything I've ever done combined.
LSF for the MVP. pic.twitter.com/uXj2IdP0le
— Amouranth :smiling_imp: @Patreon (@Amouranth) September 13, 2019
However, it appears that all was not as it seemed, as her channel has since had a whopping 292,000 followers (approximately) removed in one fell swoop on October 29.
It’s unknown at this time why the followers have disappeared from the channel, but it is clear that it was not a natural occurrence of users opting to unfollow, given the mass exodus on the same day.
Stat tracking site SocialBlade shows the removal of over 2,000 followers on October 24, and further 290,000 on October 29.
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Despite the removal of almost 300,000 followers, Amouranth’s channel has still had a net gain following her ban, but only of around 40,000, rather than the 400,000 that was originally seen in the seven days after her ban.
Some users had already pointed out that the massive increase was somewhat suspect, given the lack of a noticeable increase in viewership.
Her channel’s total follower count is now 1,220,537 – at the time of writing – down from a peak of 1,510,501.
It’s possible that Amouranth’s channel was hit by follow bots, with the timing of such an attack very coincidental, lining up perfectly with her return after the ban.
Dexerto has reached out to Twitch, but at the time of writing, the reason for the mass loss of followers is undetermined.