Twitch Introduces Shield Mode to Combat Harassment and Hate Raids
Twitch recently rolled out a new feature called Shield Mode, designed to help streamers protect themselves and their communities from harassment, particularly hate raids. The purpose of Shield Mode is to create a protective barrier around a streamer’s channel, giving them access to safety settings and the ability to ban certain phrases and individuals in their chat.
Streamers have the freedom to customize the strength of Shield Mode according to their preferences. However, before they can do that, they need to learn how to activate the feature for their channel. Likewise, it’s essential for streamers to know how to turn off Shield Mode if they feel it is unnecessary.
Using Shield Mode on Twitch
To begin using Shield Mode, streamers should navigate to their Twitch channel page by clicking on their profile icon in the top-right corner of the Twitch homepage. From there, they can either go to their chat screen or access it through the Stream Manager. Once they are in the chat, streamers simply need to type the command “/shield” to activate Shield Mode.
Conversely, to turn off Shield Mode, they can type “/shieldoff”. Once the feature is activated, a pop-up will appear offering a shortcut to the Shield Mode moderation page. Clicking “open” will take users to the Shield Mode moderation page.
On this page, streamers can customize their Shield Mode settings. They have the option to ban specific words and phrases from their chat, as well as the ability to ban users who attempt to type those words and phrases. Streamers can also review the list of banned users and decide what actions to take.
Shield Mode is a powerful tool that aims to combat harassment on Twitch. However, streamers should remain vigilant, even with the feature enabled.