Popular Vtuber BuffPup appeared in character during a TV interview with Fox 5 News to talk about the recent Twitch protests and why it’s so important to tackle hate raids on the platform.
On September 1, thousands of Twitch streamers took part in a 24-hour boycott called ‘A Day Off Twitch’ in an attempt to make a stand against hate raids, which is where bot accounts are used to overwhelm a streamer’s chat with abusive, bigoted messages.
While gamers and regular Twitch viewers are most likely already clued up on the situation, the same probably can’t be said for the average person viewing news at home on their TV – and who better to explain it to them than a popular Vtuber?
During a short segment on Fox 5 New York, BuffPup – who appeared using the same virtual avatar they stream with – was asked to explain A Day Off Twitch and why they thought the protest was so important.
“It has never been this bad, from what I’ve seen,” said BuffPup, explaining that the hate raids typically focus on “very hateful language towards marginalized groups… and there’s nothing you can do about it”.
They also called for creators to have “better protection” from Twitch, adding: “I want to protect my friends. Twitch is very important to me, it’s my job, and it’s where I meet all my friends.”
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https://twitter.com/FalseEyeD/status/1433279918788513792
In a statement issued in response to the recent protest, Twitch promised they’re working on ways to combat hate raids, saying: “We support our streamers’ rights to express themselves and bring attention to important issues across our service.
“No one should have to experience malicious and hateful attacks based on who they are or what they stand for, and we are working hard on improved channel-level ban evasion detection and additional account improvements to help make Twitch a safer place for creators.”
While some popular Twitch streamers like Asmongold questioned how effective A Day Off Twitch would be, it seems the 24-hour protest actually had quite a big impact on Twitch’s overall viewer figures.
Data showed that around a million fewer viewers tuned in during the platform’s daily peak on September 1, with an average of 3.5 million instead of the usual 4.5 million.