On Twitter, the site, which allows users to stream live video game play, confirmed the break-in. Twitch said in a tweet from their verified Twitter account, “We can confirm a hack has occurred.” “Our teams are working quickly to determine the scope of the problem.”
— Twitch (@Twitch) October 6, 2021 After reports surfaced that a big dump of Twitch data had been shared on the fringe anonymous message board 4Chan, the company issued a response. Personal Twitch user data did not appear to be in the dump, although the scope of the hack was still being probed. According to marketing research firm N. Rich, Google searches for “how to remove Twitch” increased eightfold as word of the hack spread. “With such a worrying data breach from a company as large and global as Twitch, consumers are naturally seeking to secure themselves and their data as soon as possible,” according to an N.Rich spokeswoman. According to media sources, the person who shared the wealth of stolen data claimed the break-in was done to create competition in video broadcasting and because the Twitch community “is a horrible toxic quagmire.” Last month, users of Twitch, the world’s largest video game streaming website, organised a virtual walkout to protest racist, sexist, and homophobic abuse on the network. Many Twitch streamers who are neither white or straight have found the platform to be increasingly uncomfortable as a result of the phenomenon of “hate raids” — torrents of abuse. Over the last month, a Twitter hashtag, #TwitchDoBetter, has attracted a slew of complaints, primarily from female, non-white, and LGBTQ broadcasters who claim Twitch is failing to stop internet trolls running amok while taking 50% of streamers’ revenue. Twitch has stated that it is striving to improve its mechanisms for safeguarding accounts from abuse. In federal court in the United States, the service is suing two users, accusing them of arranging the so-called “hate raids.”
