December 29th, 2020
Elijah Nouvelage / reuters
Whenever Twitch announces a new approach to handling harassment on the platform, there’s been a common, overwhelming response from streamers: “Please, please, be more than just words. Please follow this up with actions.”
That’s how Twitch Partner Jennifer Rynn, who streams under her last name, responded to the company in June. A deluge of reports of sexual abuse in the streaming community that month forced Twitch to release a statement pledging to investigate the accusations and punish aggressors, and Rynn was one of many streamers begging the company to follow through.
In June alone, streamer Jessica “JessyQuil” Richey compiled allegations against more than 60 streamers in a Medium post, and found many of them had multiple alleged victims. On June 21st, in a series of detailed videos, two women accused one of the most popular streamers on Twitch, Thomas “Syndicate” Cassell, of rape. He denied the allegations.