Over the last few months, Twitch has seen an increase in so-called hate raids. While raids have traditionally been used to support other streamers when a streamer goes offline, they have been weaponised to spread abuse and hatred.

In response to these hate raids and Twitch’s inability to combat them many streamers went offline for a day in protest. That protest had a noticeable effect on Twitch’s viewership and it seems as if the platform is working on a solution to combat hate raids.

That solution appears to be user verification, according to screenshots shared by Zach Bussey on Twitter at the weekend.

The screenshots showcase a range of settings for streamers that would require viewers to verify an email address or telephone number in order to participate in the live chat. Beyond that, streamers can opt to restrict chatting for those who followed them recently or users who only created an account recently.

Streamers can also exempt certain users from verification including subscribers, VIPs and moderators which is useful.

While Twitch has been slow to action in this matter it is understandable given the severity of the problem as well as how any solution could potentially impact users who aren’t spreading hatred. Sure, adding user verification to Twitch adds a bit of friction but we’d argue that this friction is a minor inconvenience for most users and a major one for those who are being abusive.

It’s also worth mentioning that Twitch has taken this issue incredibly seriously. So much so that it is suing two alleged hate raiders who reportedly created software that was used to conduct this sort of attack.

We should also mention that user verification is not confirmed at this point and the screenshots shared by Bussey are leaks so take them with a grain of salt.

Of course, Twitch has to do something and the solution outlined above could really help to combat unwarranted attacks on users.

[Via – Ars Technica]