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Twitch is accused of ignoring sexual assault and racism at the company

A new report from GamesIndustry.biz cites former Twitch employees who accuse the company of failing to address serious workplace issues.

Among the allegations:

  • One woman was verbally assaulted and spat on by a co-worker. "Her manager responded by asking her what she did to deserve it," the publication reports.
  • Multiple women told GamesIndustry.biz that men at the company sexually and verbally assaulted them.
  • HR reportedly did not address concerns, with one woman saying: "If you went to HR, that would just ruin you even more."
  • Male staff are said to have slut-shamed female Twitch streamers, referred to them as "boob streamers," and not taken their concerns about harassment seriously.
  • Staff had to "fight for a year to get the n-word on the global ban list," GamesIndustry.biz reports, and CEO Emmett Shear said the Ku Klux Klan should be allowed to stream on the platform.
In a statement to the publication, Twitch said: "We take any allegations of this nature extremely seriously, whether on our service or within our company, and work swiftly to investigate and address them as appropriate. Any suggestions to the contrary misrepresent our culture, leadership, and values. Many of these allegations are years old, and we've taken numerous steps to better protect and support our employees and community, and will continue to invest time and resources in this area."
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 Shakeel Hashim

Shakeel Hashim ( @shakeelhashim) is a growth manager at Protocol, based in London. He was previously an analyst at Finimize covering business and economics, and a digital journalist at News UK. His writing has appeared in The Economist and its book, Uncommon Knowledge.

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