How to Use Twitch’s New Security Features to Stop Hate Raids and Harassment

In news that will be a relief to any streamer who has ever been targeted on Twitch, the video-streaming site unveiled a new set of tools this week aimed at preventing “hate raiding” and other harassment. The much-longed-for features give creators and moderators greater control over Twitch’s chat by allowing them to exclude users based on their accounts’ phone number and email verifications.

Twitch is also trying to curb ban-evasion. While users will still be able to verify up to five accounts with the same phone number, if an account is banned site-wide, all other accounts connected to that phone number will also be banned, making ban-dodges more difficult. The same rule applies to channel-wide bans: Streamers and their mods can ban all accounts linked to a phone number or email address at one time.

How to use Twitch’s new security features

These tools provide creators and their mods with a flexible range of verification-based options to control access to chat. Here’s how to set them up.

Turn on the new tools: The default setting for the new features is “off.” Here’s how to flip the switch.

• Creators can access the new features under Dashboard > Settings > Moderation
• Mods can access them via Chat > “Manage Moderation Settings”

Choose your restrictions: The new features allow you to choose the levels of access to your chatters. Phone and email verification can be required for:

• All accounts
• First-time chatters
• Chatters with accounts aged less than 1 hour, 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months, or 6 months
• Chatters following for less than 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 6 hours, 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 1 month, or 3 months

Set exemptions: If there are any kinds of accounts you would like to exempt from the new features, you can do that too. You can exempt:

• VIPs
• Subscribers
• Moderators

Check the rest of your security settings: These aren’t the only anti-harassment tools Twitch offers to creators, so check out Twitch’s advice for combatting targeted attacks and harassment to make sure you’re doing what you can to keep bad actors out of your chat.

What users need to know about Twitch’s new security tools

If you find yourself locked out of your favourite streamer’s chat, it could be because they started using these new safety features. Here’s what you can do.

Verify your accounts: If your account is not verified by a phone number, you’ll be asked to connect your cell when you try to use a chat that requires it. You’ll only need to verify once, and it will apply site-wide.

Get used to lurking: You cannot verify Twitch accounts with a landline or VOIP, so if you don’t have a cell, you’ll be excluded from chats that use the new features (unless you’re within the creators list of exempt users). But you’ll still be able to watch streams.