[FAQ]

Hi,

My stream was targeted by a hate raid for the first time last night. It was a sudden wave of dozens of accounts spamming the most vile stuff imaginable, and I honestly just froze. I felt completely powerless and unprepared, and it was a horrible experience for both me and my community.

I want to be ready if it ever happens again. I’m looking for a step-by-step emergency plan from streamers who have dealt with this. What are the immediate commands or buttons I need to hit to lock everything down? Are there specific mod tools or chat settings I should have prepared in advance? How do you keep your composure and look after your real community when it’s happening? I just want a clear protocol to follow so I can protect my space effectively.

[Jeff Bullas]

Having a clear safety protocol for these situations is a professional necessity, not an option.

Short Answer: The best way to handle a hate raid is to have a pre-planned emergency protocol that allows you to instantly lock down your chat, document the incident, and protect your community without engaging the attackers. Your focus must be on safety and control, not confrontation.

Let’s outline a four-step content and community management protocol for these incidents.

First, you must immediately halt the influx of malicious text content. The most effective way to do this is by activating Twitch’s Shield Mode, which allows you to instantly enable a combination of strict chat settings. If you do not have that configured, your immediate manual actions should be to run the /clear command to wipe the chat log, then enable Follower-Only or Subscriber-Only mode to prevent new accounts from talking. Second, you or your moderators must document the event for reporting. Take screenshots of the hateful messages and the list of users in chat, as this image and text-based evidence is crucial for Twitch’s enforcement actions. Third, you must carefully manage your own on-air audio and video content. Do not give the attackers the satisfaction of a reaction; calmly inform your genuine community that you are handling the situation, then either take a short break or pivot the topic while your moderation team works on reporting the accounts. Finally, after the incident is resolved and the stream is over, engage with your community in a safe space like Discord to thank them for their support and reinforce the positive culture of your channel.

Cheers,

Jeff

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