Banned Twitch Users Will Not Be Able To Watch Streams Due To This New Anti-Harassment Feature

Twitch recently rolled out a new update for its users. The all-new Twitch update came with some new anti-harassment features that will allow streamers to finally block banned users from watching their streams. The platform announced this feature back in August. Now, it is making its way to many Twitch users. These types of tools to stop banned users from participating in a stream’s chat have existed for years. However, streamers could do little to prevent banned users from actually watching their own streams.

Twitch Adds New Anti-Harassment Features

All the Twitch channel owners can turn on bans by toggling on the “Stop banned users from viewing stream” in the moderation settings of their Creator Dashboard. Reports claim that the company rolled out the feature in response to community feedback. Twitch Senior Product Manager Trevor Fisher talked about it in the August episode of Patch Notes, its monthly update series. He stated that:

“Banning unwanted viewers is the first step in dealing with the platform’s harassment issues. We’ve gotten a lot of feedback over the years, to be honest, that people want their channel bans to do more”

According to the latest reports, the feature is also built into Twitch’s blocking tools. For instance, if a streamer blocks a user, the user will be automatically banned from watching streams. However, it will only apply to users who are logged into their Twitch account. Currently, the site doesn’t enable IP blocking. It means that if someone is blocked from viewing a stream, they could still watch the stream if they log out of their account. Twitch also aims to add features to stop unwanted viewers from watching VODs, highlights, and clips in coming future.

🛡️ Thanks to community feedback, we’ve started rolling out an option for streamers to prevent banned users from watching their livestreams. Streamers can turn on this feature in the Moderation settings section of their Creator Dashboard.

— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) October 11, 2023

Twitch streamer Divatron9000 stated on X/Twitter:

“Everyone in the comments claiming this is silly or a negative thing has never had a stalker or feared for their safety. There’s a reason we’ve been asking for this feature for YEARS and I’m happy they are FINALLY listening.”