Protect streamers by preventing any access to channel for banned users
This is not to take away from the improvements that have already been made, and are being implemented. The work that is being done is greatly appreciated.
However, further change is needed to better protect streamers for banned users. Merely preventing chatting is not enough to deter harassment, stalking, or intrusive bot behavior.
Most people are aware that measures often can be circumvented, that is not an excuse for the lack of protection that currently exists.
Streamers need a way to completely cut off a user from content. I believe the proposed measures are reasonable, and will also provide protection against abuse as well as preventing intrusive bots from squatting in channels without permission.
The proposed changes are:
1. A banned user is prevented from connecting to a channel's chat completely, which means their name does not appear in the list of viewers.
2. A banned user is prevented from viewing the stream itself, on site or using other means.
3. A banned user is blocked from subscribing and following, and will be automatically unsubscribed and / or unfollowed.
4. A banned user is prevented from viewing any other channel information and content, including the streamer's panels, VODs, clips, followers, and followed accounts.
5. A streamer must be able to toggle an option to treat logged out viewers similarly as a banned user, preventing any access until they log in.
Additionally, to prevent excessive account creation, the following measures should be implemented as well:
6. Accounts need to be verified by e-mail.
7. Limit the amount of accounts per e-mail, to 1 or at a maximum 2.
8. Limit the amount of accounts that can be created from a single IP address per day.
Thank you for your consideration.

Hello,
If you have tuned into Patch Notes today, you may already be aware (but in case you missed it) we're looking to implement more changes suggested here soon. We will follow up with an update & more details. Stay tuned.
-
zoumotu3 commented
My stream is currently the target of a vicious troll and cannot stream.
I tried a subscribe-only stream before suspending the stream, but it is possible to watch 5 minutes, and it seems to be possible to monitor comments all the time. He has been trolling again.
I don't want to be able to see the comment section because he even trolls the streams of people who participate in the comment section.
He also continues to lurk in the comments section, coming about RAID and writing to RAID destination with my name + insulting name screen name.He is one person, but no amount of reporting him will help as he creates a new account each time.
I would like to at least give the streamer the choice of permission to look inside with a subscribe-only stream. -
EvelynDaigo commented
Please Twitch, can you make an option that makes blocked users not able to see your streams?
-
Kikijiki commented
Their ability to view the stream after a ban is a large portion of the issue. This needs to be dealt with in order for any meaningful progress.
-
pong0 commented
I'd ask twitch to consider trying to expand this further. Even if they're banned from chat it won't prevent continuingly feeding their unhealty obsession being able to view the stream.
Just read up on Ricardo López's obession with Björk; it was a very public instance of what we all should be aiming to prevent.
-Block offender from viewing the stream, only play ads if you want your revenue still
-Offer better tools to help streamers prevent stalking / harassment. Let them know if the same IP of an offender is viewing so it gives them even more evidence of stalking to report to law enforment if needed.
-If an offender is this way to someone; would you really want on your platform? Offer the option to IP ban with ample evidence of prolonged harrassment/stalking.
I don't expect any of my ideas to be possible, just please try to do more. Someone I know is in this situation presently and it sucks to feel helpless.
-
Bxnkks commented
a way to ip/hardware ban someone theres a streamer i mod for that is being harassed by people making account making fun of him and follow him all day we need to have a way to stop these people from even seeing he is streaming
-
Oblivious2all commented
Keep stalkers from viewing your content by banning them from not just your chat but your channel as well
-
Grid21 commented
@ElleRows I agree! It's frustrating to know someone can still stalk you even after you completely banned them from a chat and that's really not enough! Instagram has the ability to completely block off a page and stop a stalker in their tracks, twitch needs this too.
-
[Deleted User] commented
Gebannte User sollten den Stream komplett nicht mehr verfolgen können, zum Beispiel nicht nur den Chat nicht mehr sehen können und darin schreiben dürfen, sondern auch den Ton und das Bild nicht mehr hören und sehen können vom Stream.
-
Grid21 commented
@JemuzuTTV YES! PLEASE we need to get twitch staff to please just deploy this idea have been advocating for and everyone else agrees with me. I'm really irritated that twitch staff just completely ignored what we're all agreeing to here. Can we as a community hard push for whole channel bans and the option to pick what type of ban we as streamers WANT to issue? Either chat OR WHOLE CHANNEL Bans?
-
Grid21 commented
I agree with @EbahZeb, whole channel bans should be a thing you can choose to do.
-
EbahZeb commented
This shouldn't even have to be a vote. Banned people should be BANNED, period.
-
Grid21 commented
Ok, so what is the status of Twitch putting my idea and everyone's agreement with my idea into action? When are whole channel bans coming? I am not gonna let this go so easily by poor answers from Twitch staff.
-
VivienCathy commented
Banned people shouldn't see the stream or get back to it any way unless unbanned.
I have been dealing with a person who's been literally harrassing us, evading the ban, sending follow bots (reported with proof btw!) and literally stalking us. Goes everywhere where the raid goes.
Banned people shouldn't access the streamer's channel at all. Is it possible to remove the streamer from their view, like they wouldnt exist at all for them?
-
darthclide commented
I have already mentioned GUID bans which I think would satisfy everyone on this thread.
But there is a small problem with rainbow's idea: You still have to look at the viewerlist constantly to see the troll who is trying to lurk in your stream. Perhaps requiring users to follow before they can view chat?
If anything, Twitch needs to overhaul their reliance on IRC and design something like what Mixer had which didn't allow people to see or join chat through any method other than loading the channel's livestream. The side effect of this was also a major reduction in bots since it is quite the hassle to load up tons of incognito tabs vs simply writing a script in mIRC to join hundreds of channels in 1 second. The downside of course was that none of your standard twitch bots could work on Mixer since it wasn't IRC.
-
Grid21 commented
I agree with @rainbowLacesMusic, It is anxiety-inducing that the person banned was just banned from chat. I want an ALL OUT ban where they can't see the whole stream and channel. Instagram already does this! And the only option someone can see is unbanned requests, otherwise, they're out altogether! I don't under how the twitch Staff can't get this idea through their heads and put it into the site. A lot of people agree with this idea.
-
RainbowLacesMusic commented
The proposed solution does not address the OPs issue -> banned users should not be able to view your channel at all. Having potentially abusive individuals lurking and watching me (or really, me feeling that it might be possible for them to do so) is enough to make me not want to stream at all. It's anxiety inducing and destructive. A ban needs to be a ban.
I think that in order to facilitate this, as channel owners perhaps we would need an option to only allow registered users to view the channel.
-
stickandstone_ commented
Recently I've had somebody who I feel uncomfortable watching my streams continually watching them despite my desperate pleas for him to stop. I've banned him and blocked him but nothing works. Instead of allowing the blocked person to see that your live it shows up with just your normal twitch channel without the ability to see the streamer is live or watch their streams.
-
Ayla commented
Stalker protection!! Blocking someone from your channel SHOULD remove their ability to WATCH your stream.
I am currently being stalked on twitch. They will watch my stream, make new accounts to watch me, they've gotten new numbers to contact me, harrass me on all of my social media. The fact that he can still WATCH my stream unlimited is appalling. PLEASE implement a feature where you can stop someone from watching your stream! -
Grid21 commented
I am someone who has been harassed a lot on Twitch when I was streaming, and I've had to ban alt accounts for people who kept harassing me and it just tiring that they are allowed, and twitch think this is ok, to come back and keep harassing me and others on my channel. Also in light of the harassment issues, other people have been dealing with, I really think Twitch needs to add the feature that if you ban someone from your channel they are NOT ALLOWED to see your channel AT ALL! This means, they can't search for you, they can't make an alt account to find you, and they can't watch your stream, nor see the channel. This would really help discourage bad actors out there that are trying to do hate raids, harassment gangs, and other issues on Twitch. I realize it's a big cost to Twitch to enable this, but since it works on Instagram for a ban to keep you from seeing that person's profile, then Twitch should do the same and allow whole channel bans. However, maybe you could at least allow the banned person to use the "appeal ban" feature, but otherwise, banning should mean they can't see the stream anymore. I really hope someone at Twitch will see this idea and consider it as someone to implement on the platform to protect creators and actually, it may force people to behave themselves knowing they could receive a whole channel ban. Also what you could do as an alternate option, is allow the streamer to pick what type of ban the user gets. i.e. chat ban only or whole channel ban. That way at least there is some "mercy" line for bans . Which would also work really well to have an option to pick what type of ban the user will get. Anyway, I truly hope and pray someone on the Twitch Dev team will see this and like my idea for picking a "type" of ban for streamers to protect themselves and the community they operate!
-
RivrprncessLori commented
Banning a user totally from the channel will not help him/her to feel the consequences of wrongdoing. Their being able to view the channel but unable to follow, sub or chat might cause them to seriously think of all they have lost and motivate them to turn to doing what is right. That should be the reason any streamer bans a user and all benefit when they have learned their lesson and come back.