Twitch reveals verified chat and extra security to avoid hate raids

In a recent blog post, Twitch revealed a new system called verified chat. This lets streamers choose if they want their chatters to be verified through their phone number or email to type anything in the live chat. This applies to specific chatters and everyone who types in their streams. Now, bot accounts will have a harder time spamming streamer’s chats as the verification adds steps to help stop them.

Today we're putting more power in the hands of the community, by enabling phone verified chat! Now creators and mods can require viewers to verify their account via phone number (or email) before they can chat. For more information review the blog: https://t.co/TlqCS4OzQC

— Twitch (@Twitch) September 29, 2021

Verified chat change arrives

As mentioned earlier this September when hate raids started to grow, streamers started asking for a multitude of simple changes to the system. Twitch has now responded with added security, specifically in the form of added verification. According to Twitch’s blog post, this system will assist streamers in handling these bots.

To access this new update, it should appear in the streamer dashboard under “settings.” In the moderation section, streamers need to look under the tab “chat verification.” For moderators of these chats, it is accessible via chat, in the popup “manage moderator settings.” According to Twitch, these verifications can apply to:

• All accounts
• First-time chatters
• Chatters with an account age younger than a preset time of the streamer’s choice
• Chatters following with an account age younger than a preset time of the streamer’s choice

At the same time, streamers can exempt their subscribers, VIPs and moderators from needing verification to speak in their chat. This verified chat option is off by default, so creators will have to turn it on.

Rule changes coming alongside new chat system

Twitch is also implementing new rules to help avoid bots. The first is to prevent the people who control these bots from doing so again. Now if a phone number is suspended site-wide, all accounts linked to it are also suspended.

There are many questions for users left  unanswered, including how this impacts regular chatters. The blog also contains a FAQ portion to help answer some of them, including which phone numbers count for verification, as well as how this helps slow down bots. The added verified chat doesn’t stop the bots — according to Twitch — but it helps slow them down to a point where the company can find out who controls them easier, as well as giving the streamer more control to stop it from happening in the first place.