Thread by @negaoryx

it comes as no surprise to ANY of us that most of the top streamers on Twitch are uninformed about hate raids, don't notice them in their own channels & aren't using their platforms to speak up about the harassment and abuse marginalized creators deal with on a daily basis. 🧵

Of the Top 50 streamers on Twitch by average viewership, ONE of them is a woman. Fifty-nine of them are men. Y'all make BANK off of Twitch and most don't look out for anyone on the platform but themselves. that's their choice, sure - but it's a shitty, selfish and gross choice.

before anyone @'s me about highlighting the gender disparity here: sincerely from the bottom of my heart have a very shut the fuck up & educate yourself on privilege.
aacu.org/publications-r…

ask yourself why you feel the need to argue & defend that you haven't benefitted from privilege if you're a cis man, straight, white, etc. feeling discomfort when confronted with the notion that you are part of a privileged group doesn't give you a pass to deny its existence.

"their chats move so fast, they don't even see comments!" you don't need to see it happen to you to care that it happens to others. I haven't been hate raided the way my peers have but I haven't shut up about this issue because it doesn't need to affect me for me to care.

I do not consider myself to be a big streamer in the slightest; I have a wonderful, sizeable community but we're a drop in the bucket compared to the ocean that's the Top 1% of Twitch. But even if I had just 1 viewer and 1 follower, I'd still be involved in #TwitchDoBetter!

I might not have millions of followers, but I am sure as shit going to use what platform I have to call on my peers on Twitch and say: CARE ABOUT OTHERS AND SHOW IT. you have SO MUCH from your career on Twitch. give back even a little. take a stand. speak up even once, dear god.

y'all comfortably pay your bills with money earned PLAYING VIDEO GAMES ON THE INTERNET. our jobs have ups & downs, sure, but at the end of the day, monumental success and wealth from this career is a blessing. you stand to lose so little by simply *tweeting* about this issue.

does anyone owe it to each other to take a stand and speak up? personally, I think we have such limited time on this Earth, we have a moral obligation to make each other's lives better and safer wherever we can. even if you disagree though: it's a tweet. it takes 0.00001% effort.

it baffles &disgusts me that most people who are literal millionaires from our line of work can't seem to: A) stay engaged with the wider Twitch community enough to see this happening and B) do the bare minimum of just saying to their audience "hate raids bad! twitch do better!"

I'm angry, I'm frustrated, and I'm not even someone directly targeted by the abuse and harassment that my POC and fellow LGBTQIA2+ peers constantly receive on our platform - you don't have to imagine how much worse they feel, you can see it every damn day here on twitter dot com.

I want to see @Twitch do better, I really do. I know there are incredibly hardworking staff members who push for Twitch to be better in every way & every day at their jobs. I appreciate their efforts immensely, but what we need is to SEE change, not just hope it's coming one day.

if you don't see the value to #ADayOffTwitch or think there's better ways to go about affecting change, you can still show support for the concept of asking Twitch to protect marginalized creators better. you can still visibly show your audience there's problems that need fixing.

it feels like a problem that humans never move past, simply begging people to care about others. if you disagree that we should try to look out for other humans as best we can, I don't know what to say to you except you're probably not going to like it here on my Twitter.

I have always tried & will continue to always try to use whatever platform I have for good. if you're reading this: please, take a moment to take a stand in any way. retweet a tweet sharing resources, reply to @Twitch voicing concerns, support those affected by online harassment.

and above all, please do not act like anything I'm saying here is new. it's the same shit that my POC peers have been saying for YEARS. I don't want a cookie or a pat on the back for doing the bare minimum. I just want to see @Twitch change for the better.

💜