advertisement
Facebook
X
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Reddit

Twitch turns to machine learning to fight ban evaders

Twitch has come under fire throughout 2021 because streamers and viewers don’t feel safe on the platform.

The situation reached boiling point this year when instances of hate raids became a daily occurrence for some streamers. The situation became so dire that many streamers took a day off of streaming to protest and push Twitch to do more.

One of the problems with banning instigators of hate raids is that there are ways to get around the ban such as creating a new account. To address this, Twitch is turning to technology for a solution.

“When you ban someone from your channel, they should be banned from your community for good. Unfortunately, bad actors often choose to create new accounts, jump back into Chat, and continue their abusive behavior,” Twitch wrote in a blog post.

So Twitch is making use of machine learning for something it calls Suspicious User Detection.

This tool will help Twitch identify those evading bans by analysing a number of account signals. Suspicious accounts will be flagged as likely evading a channel-ban or possibly-evading a channel-ban.

Accounts classified as likely ban evaders by Twitch will not be able to send Chat messages at all. Mods and Creators will be able to see the messages and can decided to leave the restriction, monitor the user or ban the viewer.

Accounts classified as possibly evading a ban will still be able to send messages to Chat but the account will be flagged to the Creator and Mods. This should make it easier to monitor accounts and take action if needed.

“We’re turning Suspicious User Detection on by default for all channels so that streamers can focus more on their content and their communities. You can, of course, adjust or deactivate this tool from the channel’s moderation settings page. You can also manually add users that you’d like to monitor more closely, either from the user’s Viewer Card or the new Suspicious Users widget in Mod View,” wrote Twitch.

The streaming platform makes it clear that Suspicious User Detection won’t ban users automatically. The actions Creators and Mods take against users however will be used to help improve the tool and predictions should get better overtime.

Everybody on Twitch including users and creators are invited to comment on the Suspicious User Detection tool and provide feedback here.

advertisement

About Author

advertisement

Related News

advertisement