According to the company’s official blog post, Twitch is adding phone-verified chat and expanding its email verification settings so content creators can have better control over who interacts with them. The update is available to all streamers and can be accessed via Settings in the Creator Dashboard. Phone-verified chat requires users to verify their phone numbers before using the chat. This feature, alongside the new email verification settings, gives the streamer more control over who can participate. However, Twitch doesn’t say what the email verification settings are or what they entail. VIP members, subscribers, and mods can be made exempt from verifying. And in an effort to combat ban evasion, Twitch will ban all accounts connected to a verified phone number or email if there is a problem. The new verification system is the latest tool in combating hate raids. Previously, Twitch implemented new chat filters to protect streamers from harassment, but despite those filters, the bullying continued. Raiding was originally meant for streamers to share audiences with others by redirecting viewers to another stream. However, bad actors have exploited this feature to harass and attack streamers. It has gotten so bad that Twitch is suing two users who allegedly started these hate raids. The company claims that while there is no single solution to stop this behavior, the new system will expand the tools and technology used to slow the hate.
