Twitch Under Fire For Alleged Inaction To Protect Children From Predators

Over the past few months, Twitch has repeatedly come under fire for failing to meet public expectations. The issues span multiple agendas, ranging from the company temporarily banning a streamer after they had sexual intercourse during a Twitch Livestream to slashing creators' revenue shares to a 50/50 split. As a result, the Amazon-owned company has attracted constant controversy and backlash following its decisions.

More disturbing, an investigative report by Bloomberg's Cecilia D’Anastasio regarding Twitch enabling child predation published on 21st September 2022 revealed the horrifying reality that children weren’t safe on Twitch. According to the report, nearly 300,000 kids were targeted by child predators on Twitch between October 2020 to August 2022.

However, despite this shocking discovery, Twitch has supposedly made no attempt to resolve these issues or, at the very least, set up basic protection to prevent children from using the platform. This inaction to protect children has caused a worldwide concern over kids' safety and the dangers of child predation on Twitch.

Twitch's Allegedly Making It Harder To Identify Online Child Predators

D’Anastasio’s investigative report does not look good for Twitch. But, in saying so, considering the severity of the allegations, it would be sensible to assume that Twitch would take action or implement solutions to protect kids from the reported child predation on the streaming platform.

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However, Twitch allegedly didn’t try at all. In fact, according to D’Anastasio, there has been “no new move” from the Amazon-owned company to prevent children from streaming on the platform. For parents or guardians, this is extremely worrying and concerning, as it gives the impression that Twitch isn’t interested in making the platform a safer environment for minors.

Since the report, I have seen no new move to prevent children from livestreaming on Twitch (particularly on mobile) or add basic protections seen on YouTube and TikTok live. This morning, it took me 1 min 20 secs between hitting Sign Up on Twitch’s mobile app and going live (2/6)

— Cecilia D'Anastasio (@cecianasta) October 27, 2022

D'Anastasio claimed it took one minute and twenty seconds to set up an account and start streaming on Twitch. So, imagine the millions of children doing the same because the platform has no restrictions or child protection systems to prevent them from streaming.

Contrary, D'Anastasio stated that Twitch has instead enabled child predation by making it harder to track predators on the platform. For example, the Amazon-owned company is taking away a feature that D'Anastasio and their researchers used to identify the predatory accounts across the platform and collect analytical data for their investigative report.

D'Anastasio said, “So what has Twitch done? Twitch announced it’s removing one feature—the feature we used to identify predatory accounts. Soon, we will no longer be able to access following/follower information through Twitch’s API. Who knows—maybe a coincidence.”

So what has Twitch done? Twitch announced it’s removing one feature–the feature we used to identify predatory accounts. Soon, we will no longer be able to access following/follower information through Twitch’s API. Who knows--maybe a coincidence. (4/6) https://t.co/4llvr0VAIs

— Cecilia D'Anastasio (@cecianasta) October 27, 2022

So far, Twitch hasn’t released an official statement in response to D'Anastasio's investigative report and claims. However, as more information comes to light and the concerns for children’s safety on the platform reach more people, we can only hope that Twitch might appropriate suitable protective measures soon. We will endeavor to update you regarding any further developments.

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