Twitch introduces new safety measures (opens in new tab) to protect streamers from hate raids and other forms of mass harassment.

Shield mode is a one-click emergency button that allows streamers and mods to instantly apply new and old safety tools on the platform. These settings can be tweaked and customized in advance and can be executed with the press of a button or slash command. Shield mode can instantly switch chat to followers or subs only, turn on chat verification options, and increase the level of AutoMod tools.

It also introduces several new safety features: mass ban and the ability to prevent first-time chatters from sending messages. The first one allows streamers and mods to mass ban anyone using certain words or phrases that are flagged while shield mode is enabled. These bans can also be reviewed and revoked, and the offending user is further reported to Twitch. A new "First Time Chatter Banned" channel mode has also been added, and as the name suggests, people who have never sent a message to a streamer's channel will not be able to talk.

Once a particularly rough period of time is over, the shield mode can be switched off and returned to standard stream settings; Twitch hopes that "this tool will make it easier to shut down instantly when a hate raid occurs." The tool is also noted to be useful in other scenarios, such as when streamers are dealing with sensitive topics or when they are on the front page and do not want to draw unwanted attention.

In the wake of last year's hate raid (open in new tab), Twitch initially suggested locking streams for the streamers who suffered the most. Permanently implementing this type of measure, as the platform now admits, could hinder growth. LGBTQ+ and black streamers, in particular, are often "most in need of online visibility" and are "disproportionately targeted by hate raids. "In order to reflect what streamers need at any given moment, Twitch is "customizable like this one and easily We will focus more on features that can be easily increased or decreased," and will also "work proactively to prevent more damage. [Hundreds or thousands of bots and real people flood streamers' channels, bombarding their chats with numerous slurs, insults, and other incredibly offensive things, such as "TwitchDoBetter (opens in new tab)" and "#ADayOffTwitch (opens in new tab)." Twitch eventually introduced a "phone verification chat" option for streamers, and companies like Streamlabs introduced their own "panic" option to temporarily lock down live streams. provided their own "panic button" (open in new tab) to lock down.