Twitch CEO Emmett Shear has been accused of laughing off experiences of abuse on the platform after plenty of customers got here ahead with claims of mistreatment, cruelty and abuse.
A music streamer on Twitch who goes by the identify of Starling overtly tagged Shear in a tweet, suggesting the CEO had no intention of trying into abuse allegations.
“[Shear was] asked in an All Hands meeting about partners using their platforms to abuse women – specifically using my case as an example,” wrote Starling. “He chuckled, said ‘wow, the things that go on on our platform, can’t really comment,’ & moved on.”
Starling goes on to notice that interplay occurred throughout a recorded assembly over a yr in the past, and Shear has but to take motion. “He didn’t follow up, he didn’t address it,” wrote Starling. “This is Twitch culture. Sweep the ugly stuff under the rug for profit.”
“I dated a Twitch partner who emotionally & psychologically abused me for over a year,” wrote Starling in one other tweet. “After I got out and cut him off, he outed my old porn to his platform and called for Twitch to ban me for it. I was afraid for my safety, afraid to go to TwitchCon. No consequences.”
Starling’s story is considered one of many from Twitch customers claiming the platform did not take motion in opposition to associates who prey on and abuse others. Pokemon Go participant Samantha Wong tweeted in response to a statement from Twitch saying: “These are empty words considering you, as a company, minimized and dismissed my sexual harassment and continued to let the predator attend your events and gave him live segments at E3 on your official channel.”
Ex-Twitch VP Justin Wong responded to Wong, saying:
“I was a VP at Twitch and I reported this to the relationship-owning VP, the head of HR, and the CEO. All assured me it would be handled. Next year he was in the same VIP space at the same Twitch event. I was told he was the VP’s uncle and an ‘important’ initiative launch partner.”
A doc that includes experiences from others who’ve skilled abuse within the streaming trade has been printed on Medium. Victims are persevering with to share their tales there, and additional updates could be directed to Survivors-Streaming-Industry@protonmail.com.
