Twitch’s “ban evasion” flag is a bigger anti-hate tactic than you might think

Enlarge (credit: Twitch)

Twitch, the livestreaming service that largely caters to gamers, has exploded in popularity since being acquired by Amazon in 2014-but toxicity on the platform has also increased. This week, Twitch took an important step toward getting a handle on its applause-like "chat" feature, and it goes beyond the usual dictionary-based approach of flagging inappropriate or abusive language.

The Tuesday rollout of a new "ban evasion" flag came with a surprising amount of fanfare, and it puts Twitch in a position to do what many other platforms won't. The company is not only paying attention to "sockpuppet" account generation; it is pledging to squash it.

Spinning up attacks

Pretty much any modern online platform faces the same issue: Users can join, view, and comment on content with little more than an email address. If you want to say nasty things about Ars Technica across the Internet, for example, you could make a ton of new accounts on various sites in a matter of minutes. Your veritable anti-Ars mini-mob requires little more than a series of free email addresses. Should a service require some form of two-factor authentication, you could simply attach spare physical devices or spin up additional phone numbers.

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