A new Change.org petition is asking Twitch to crack down on racist and homophobic usernames.
The online petition has accumulated nearly 2,800 signatures to date. Here’s a description of the petition:
Twitch announced their support for black creators but is still yet to add a better filter for username creations. It’s a well known and long overdue issue. By not preventing this behavior, Twitch is making it easier for their creators to be targeted by hate speech while live. We’ve been asking for an improvement on filtering usernames without even a word from Twitch.
Twitch asked us to hold them accountable and watch them closely. We have watched closely, but now it’s time to hold them accountable.
They need to realize the damage this can cause to their creators and that it affects everyone. Even those who are not POC/LGBTQIA+ have these people show up in their chat to cause disruptions. While we can remove them from the chat, these usernames should not have been permitted in the first place. It’s reckless and encourages toxic behavior to still thrive in the gaming community.
Fans of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare recently made headlines for asking Activision to crack down on racist IDs and clan tags. The game’s developer, Infinity Ward, apologized and said that “there is no place for racist content in our game.”
As for Twitch, click here for the online petition.
