Twitch propagates anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel

The streaming platform Twitch is watched by more people than any other TV news channel at any given time. 21.4 billion hours of content are consumed on Twitch every year. And this also includes the anti-Semitism that the platform is increasingly transmitting into the minds of viewers.

If you're over a millennium old, you've probably never heard of Twitch, now owned by Amazon. Three quarters of users are under 35 years old. Twitch began in 2011 as a platform primarily for streaming games, and today over 7 million people create Twitch content – from gaming to comedy to increasingly anti-Jewish and pro-terrorist videos.

It is a powerful and seemingly dangerous platform for reaching young minds.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists and thousands of Gazans invaded Israel and committed the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Less than a week later, as the Israelis were still trying to identify the charred remains of innocents burned alive, the streaming platform Twitch appeared to be on their side. . . the terrorists. Changes to Twitch coding made it almost impossible for Israelis to become members of the platform.

This was first brought to light last May by an Israeli streamer named “Force,” who posted on Israel, which is crazy.”

Despite the public outcry, Twitch took no action.

About a week ago, a subreddit thread also noticed the login error. Then it snowed. One user posted: “Israeli here!, just checked and actually found he was banned from creating new accounts.”

Twitch denied attempting to block users in Israel from joining the platform after October. 7. Instead, they posted a claim on X that registrations are coming from Israel by email were suspended after the Hamas attack to prevent the broadcast of violent content. Twitch claimed that registrations are made via mobile phone devices were still allowed.

But according to a report by Ynet, Israel's largest media outlet, Israelis were blocked in their attempt Sign up via both email and mobile starting October 20, more than a year after the Hamas massacre. Threads on Reddit from Twitch users support Ynet's claims. But just last month, after intense public outrage, Twitch finally fixed and corrected login blocks.

Even worse is who and what Twitch is allowed on his platform. As another Redditer wrote, “You literally have streamers celebrating terrorism against Jews.”

One of those streamers is Hasan Piker, who my organization StopAntisemitism named our Anti-Semite of the Week in April — and who said in 2019, “America deserved 9/11, dude.” Shit, I’m saying it.”

Recently, Piker said there was no evidence of mass rapes or killings by Hamas last October. Even as the terrorist group live-streamed its bloody depredations in Israel, Piker hosted streams in which he denied or dismissed Hamas sexual violence, even saying, “It doesn't matter if there was fucking rape on October 7th.”

This type of content violates Twitch's Community Guidelines, which state: “Twitch does not permit content that depicts, glorifies, encourages, or supports terrorism or violent extremist actors or acts.”

While Piker faced a temporary ban in 2021 for using the word “cracker” to describe white people, he reportedly makes millions annually from the platform. He's so popular on Twitch that CEO Dan Clancy and Twitch employees celebrated the streamer's birthday in July by singing to him live. Despite this outrage, Twitch ignored the over 7,000 complaints our organization sent them about Piker's behavior.

It's not just Twitch users who spread hate, but employees too. The company's Trust & Safety team, for example, includes Fadzai Madzingira, who was suspended from a job at Ofcom, the UK's independent communications regulator, due to her alleged anti-Israel bias. On October 16, 2023, when Israel had not yet responded to the massacre, Madzingira allegedly accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing and genocide against Palestinians” in an Instagram post. Still, Twitch deemed her worthy of employment.

What is the answer to all of this? CEO Daniel Clancy must take responsibility for Twitch's treatment of Israeli users and resign. The way he runs Twitch – with his unethical boycott of Israel and the persistent anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist voices that thrive there – is deeply disturbing.

A Twitch spokesperson responded to questions in the post: “There is no place on Twitch for hate or harassment of any kind, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.” Twitch is always about belonging – we have clear community guidelines that prohibit this harm, and our enforcement processes ensure that we apply these policies quickly, objectively and consistently to protect all members of our community. We take this responsibility seriously and are constantly working to improve and evolve our approach to security.”

However, if Twitch fails to act responsibly, Amazon should intervene. We are not optimistic.

Amazon employee Alexander “Sasha” Troufanov has been held hostage in Gaza for over a year and there is no evidence that the tech giant has done anything to secure his release.

Governor Gavin Newsom, the California Attorney General and the California Legislature should investigate Twitch's practices, including their boycott of Israel. The platform is based in California, where strict anti-BDS laws prohibit the state from doing business with companies that have policies “against…” . . the nation and people of Israel.” Newsom could have real impact here; Golden State almost certainly has contracts with Amazon Web Services.

Finally, Twitch's Trust & Safety team needs an overhaul. Oversight and management must be located domestically and not, for example, in Egypt, where many employees resided, according to an internal whistleblower, and where a Pew survey found that 95% of residents express negative attitudes toward Jews. Employing managers with deep prejudices like Madzingira should be reconsidered.

There must be consequences for Twitch's outrageous anti-Israel actions and spread of anti-Semitism. American society cannot thrive if our younger generation is pushed into hatred.

Liora Rez is the founder and CEO of Stop anti-Semitism.