Streamers believe that hate raids have gotten worse in recent times. One possible reason is Twitch’s implementation of a plethora of new tags — some focused on specific identities like “Black,” “transgender,” and “disabled”— in May of this year. When streamers apply these tags to their own streams, it means that prospective new viewers (and fellow marginalized streamers) can more easily pick them out from of a crowd of millions. But tags also provide racist, homophobic and ableist trolls with a veritable buffet of targets on which to feast. Streamers who requested these tags for years still feel the pros outweigh the cons, but they wish Twitch would have done more to head off harassers.

Source: Washington Post August 11, 2021 21:33 UTC