Twitch streamers are in for a bit of a shock in the coming days as their follower and view counts are likely to fall dramatically. The reason? Bots.
As Engadget reports, Twitch has discovered over 7.5 million bot accounts have been inflating both the follower and view counts of legitimate streamers. Work is now underway to delete all of the identified bot accounts, which will have the side effect of lowering follower and view counts. In one case, prominent streamer xQc saw their follower count drop from 8.1 million to 5.9 million. Another streamer by the name of Chance “Sodapoppin” Morris lost 45% of his followers (roughly 2.8 million).
Although Twitch offers a a way for users to report bot accounts, the Twitch Twitter account explains how the majority of these fake accounts were discovered using “ongoing machine learning technology.” In its Help pages Twitch says botting is bad because, “Artificial engagement and botting limit growth opportunities for legitimate broadcasters and are damaging to the community as a whole.”
If you are a Twitch streamer experiencing fake engagement like this, Twitch doesn’t want you to panic. Instead, just carry on as normal while reporting any evidence of bots on your channel. On the other hand, if you’re found to be involved in fake engagement, expect Twitch to suspend your account, probably indefinitely.
