Gerry Palmers Tech 07.22.2022 03:Jul AM EDT

Twitch’s New Safety Feature Lets Creators Share Banned Users List with One Another

Streamers on Twitch can now share lists of banned users as part of the platform's safety feature to prevent serial harassers from reaching them, especially those who come from marginalized communities.

The feature, called the Shared Ban Info function, takes its cue from the Suspicious User Controls system Twitch introduced in December.

Twitch Streamers Need to Request Ban Lists from Other Streamers

For a streamer to share a list of banned users, a creator must send other streamers a request from the Shared Ban Info section of the moderation settings. When streamers request ban information from other streamers, and they accept, both will share the same information from their channels. Streamers are allowed to have up to 30 of these connections.

Streamers can set actions on how to treat the other users of the channel. These flagged users can be monitored. This means that they can post in your chat, but their messages will be flagged for you and your moderators to review. Streamers can likewise restrict flagged users by default - the banned users' chat messages will only be visible to streamers and moderators.

Streamers can either ban these flagged users or mark them as trusted, wherein they can post chat messages without limitations. However, once a flagged user posts in your chat for the first time, their message will show a red border, indicating the channel that has banned them.

Twitch said the tool is "a first step in empowering not just individual streamers to make personalized moderation decisions, but communities as a whole," a spokesperson noted in an Engadget report. They added that, while the tool is simply its latest customizable tool, it brings a new level of scalability by spreading the impact of the individual streamer's moderation decisions and allowing community members to help each other.

Similar initiatives have been carried out on other platforms to weed out problematic users. Twitter, for instance, once allowed users to share a list of blocked accounts, but Twitter has since removed this feature.

Twitch Now Allows Streamers to Control Raids

Twitch unveiled the Shared Ban Info feature at TwitchCon in Amsterdam last weekend. The company also announced it will give streamers additional control over those who can raid them. A "raid" is when a streamer automatically sends all their viewers to another channel after they end their stream. This feature, however, has been used to harass marginalized streamers.

So how can raids be customized? Streamers could be able to set a minimum or a maximum number of viewers in a possible incoming raid, as well as the age of the account.

Streamers can also further choose if raids can come from teammates, followed channels, subscribers, and more. Raid controls will be more easily reached and managed while live. Streamers can also choose to turn off the feature completely.