Hate on Twitch Streams: Stop and Report Hate Raids

You go live, and suddenly dozens of new accounts flood your chat with racist remarks, insults or your real name. Or a single viewer disrupts every stream. Hate on Twitch streams hits small and large channels alike. This guide shows how to protect yourself with Twitch’s tools, secure evidence, report, and when it becomes a criminal offence in Germany. It is for streamers, mods and viewers.

What is a hate raid on Twitch?

A raid is actually a friendly feature: at the end of a stream, someone sends their viewers to another channel. In a hate raid, this is abused or imitated. Many accounts, often automatically created bots, storm a chat at the same time and post hate. Waves of fake follows work in a similar way, with offensive names shown in the stream through follow alerts.

It often hits people who already face a lot of hostility, for example because of their skin colour, gender or sexual orientation. A hate raid is not your fault, and you do not have to put up with it.

What should you do during a hate raid?

1. Turn on Shield Mode: Twitch offers a protective mode that you set up in advance and switch on with one click when needed. It activates stricter chat settings all at once. Depending on your settings, mods can also use it to ban accounts that use certain terms.
2. Switch on chat modes: such as followers-only chat with a minimum follow time, subscriber-only chat, emote-only or slow mode.
3. Pause alerts so offensive names are not shown in your stream.
4. Save if you can: protection comes first. If a second person is there, they should screenshot the chat before you ban. Messages from banned users disappear from the visible chat.
5. End the stream if needed. You do not have to tough it out. Taking a break is not a defeat.

Menu labels may change with updates. Look for these features in your channel’s moderation settings.

How do you protect your Twitch channel in advance?

• AutoMod: filters problematic messages at several levels and holds them until a mod reviews them.
• Blocked terms: your own list of words and spellings that should not appear in chat. Add your real name or your town if you do not want them showing up in chat.
• Chat verification: you can require accounts to have a verified email address or phone number before they can chat, for example only for new accounts or first-time chatters.
• Limit raids: in your channel settings you decide who you accept raids from, for example only friends or channels you follow.
• Mods: appoint reliable mods and agree in advance who does what in an emergency. Write down chat rules everyone can follow.

How do you secure evidence on Twitch?

• Screenshots of the chat showing username, message and time. A clock in your stream overlay helps.
• Clips: clips capture a short section. Whether the chat is visible in them depends on whether you show it in your stream. So also screenshot the chat and save the clip links.
• Recordings: Twitch deletes past broadcasts (VODs) automatically after a limited time. Download the recording in time or save the section as a highlight. You can also record your stream locally with your streaming software.
• Accounts: note usernames and channel links. The user card often shows when an account was created. Many brand-new accounts at the same moment point to an organised action.
• Whispers: screenshots of the whole conversation.
• Outside Twitch: if the raid is organised on Discord or X, for example, save that as well. Tips are in Hate in Gaming and on Discord.

If your address appears in chat: screenshot it, then have it deleted at once. General tips are in our guide to securing evidence.

How do you report hate in a stream to Twitch?

• Report a user: click the username in chat. In the user card, you find “Report” through the three-dot menu. Choose the fitting reason, such as hateful conduct or harassment.
• Channels, clips and whispers can also be reported, for example if a raid comes from a particular channel.
• As a viewer: report too, and do not reply to the attackers. Tell the streamer later what you saved.

Under the Digital Services Act, Twitch must handle reports of illegal content carefully and tell you its decision (Art. 16 DSA). If it rejects your report, you can lodge a free internal complaint (Art. 20 DSA). For an overview, see Digital Services Act: What Platforms Must Do About Online Hate.

When is hate in a stream a criminal offence?

Streams do not have their own set of laws. The main provisions of the German Criminal Code (StGB) are:

• Insult (§ 185 StGB): generally only prosecuted if a request for prosecution (Strafantrag) is filed. You have three months for this, from when you learn of the act and the offender.
• Threats (§ 241 StGB): more in Online Threats: When a Threat Is a Criminal Offence.
• Incitement to hatred (Volksverhetzung, § 130 StGB): stirring up hatred against groups, for example because of origin or religion.
• Symbols of unconstitutional organisations (§ 86a StGB).
• Dangerous dissemination of personal data (§ 126a StGB): if your address is posted to put you in danger.
• Stalking (Nachstellung, § 238 StGB): if someone persistently pursues you across channels and platforms. It is prosecuted ex officio, meaning even without a request for prosecution.

Whether a specific case is a criminal offence is for the police or a law firm to assess. You can file a criminal complaint (Anzeige) at any police station or online through the online police station (Onlinewache) of your federal state. Include the channel link, usernames, date, time, clip links and screenshots.

In acute danger? If someone knows your address and threatens to come round, call 110, the police emergency number in Germany.

What helps after a hate raid?

A raid can affect you for days afterwards. Let mods read the chat for a while, plan breaks and talk to people you trust. HateAid offers counselling to people affected by digital violence. The Telefonseelsorge crisis line is available around the clock on 0800 111 0 111 (in German), and the Nummer gegen Kummer helpline on 116 111 (Monday to Saturday, 2 to 8 pm, in German).

Frequently asked questions

Can I prevent a hate raid?

Not completely. But raid settings, chat verification, AutoMod and a prepared Shield Mode make it much harder for attackers.

Are clips suitable as evidence?

Yes, especially together with chat screenshots, date, time and channel link. Save the links and, if possible, a copy, because clips and VODs can be deleted.

Am I allowed to record my own stream?

Recording your own public broadcast is generally not a problem. Private voice chats outside the stream can be a different matter.

Is a criminal complaint (Anzeige) against bot accounts worth it?

Behind bot waves there are people who organise them. Whether they can be identified is uncertain. A report still documents the incident, especially for threats or incitement to hatred.

You can also report it through our form. If you say yes, your report goes automatically to a suitable cooperating law firm (Kooperationskanzlei) as soon as one is available. The legal assessment comes from the law firm, not from us. If there is no suitable firm right now, you get an email with other places to turn to straight away. Deadlines keep running: you can always file a request for prosecution (Strafantrag) with the police yourself.