Workplace

Twitch commits to changes to thwart 'hate raids'

For months, Twitch streamers have been reporting coordinated attacks on the platform using the hashtag #TwitchDoBetter.

The Twitch logo on a phone

Twitch also promised to release tools that can detect people who are trying to evade channel bans later this year.

Photo: Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Twitch said Thursday that it has fixed a problem with its hate speech filter in hopes of curbing floods of abuse and racism known as "hate-raids" on the platform. Twitch streamers have been pleading with the company to address the issue for months.

The hashtag #TwitchDoBetter has continued to trend on Twitter and elsewhere since February. The campaign is mostly led by streamers who have experienced floods of coordinated attacks because of their gender, racial or ethnic identity, or sexual orientation. They have been asking the company to make it harder for people to create new accounts when they've been blocked and add more robust safety tools for streamers. Some Twitch streamers are now warning others that using the #TwitchDoBetter actually makes them more vulnerable to attacks.

In its announcement Thursday, Twitch also promised to release tools that can detect people who are trying to evade channel bans later this year. "Our work is never done, and your input is essential as we try to build a safer Twitch. We'll be reaching out to community members to learn more about their experiences," the company wrote in its statement.

Anna Kramer

Anna Kramer is a reporter at Protocol (Twitter: @ anna_c_kramer, email: akramer@protocol.com), where she writes about labor and workplace issues. Prior to joining the team, she covered tech and small business for the San Francisco Chronicle and privacy for Bloomberg Law. She is a recent graduate of Brown University, where she studied International Relations and Arabic and wrote her senior thesis about surveillance tools and technological development in the Middle East.

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Fintech

Judge Zia Faruqui is trying to teach you crypto, one ‘SNL’ reference at a time

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Photo: Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images

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Veronica Irwin

Veronica Irwin (@vronirwin) is a San Francisco-based reporter at Protocol covering fintech. Previously she was at the San Francisco Examiner, covering tech from a hyper-local angle. Before that, her byline was featured in SF Weekly, The Nation, Techworker, Ms. Magazine and The Frisc.

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Enterprise

AWS CEO: The cloud isn’t just about technology

As AWS preps for its annual re:Invent conference, Adam Selipsky talks product strategy, support for hybrid environments, and the value of the cloud in uncertain economic times.

Photo: Noah Berger/Getty Images for Amazon Web Services

AWS is gearing up for re:Invent, its annual cloud computing conference where announcements this year are expected to focus on its end-to-end data strategy and delivering new industry-specific services.

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Donna Goodison

Donna Goodison (@dgoodison) is Protocol's senior reporter focusing on enterprise infrastructure technology, from the 'Big 3' cloud computing providers to data centers. She previously covered the public cloud at CRN after 15 years as a business reporter for the Boston Herald. Based in Massachusetts, she also has worked as a Boston Globe freelancer, business reporter at the Boston Business Journal and real estate reporter at Banker & Tradesman after toiling at weekly newspapers.

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Farewell from Protocol

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Bennett Richardson

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Photo: artpartner-images via Getty Images

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Kate Kaye

Kate Kaye is an award-winning multimedia reporter digging deep and telling print, digital and audio stories. She covers AI and data for Protocol. Her reporting on AI and tech ethics issues has been published in OneZero, Fast Company, MIT Technology Review, CityLab, Ad Age and Digiday and heard on NPR. Kate is the creator of RedTailMedia.org and is the author of "Campaign '08: A Turning Point for Digital Media," a book about how the 2008 presidential campaigns used digital media and data.

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