After announcing additional protections to prevent minors from accessing transmissions to reduce the number of reports of virtual abuse, Twitch has announced a new tool called “Shield Mode”. It promises to protect streamers against coordinated hate attacks.
Shield Mode, Twitch’s new tool, allows streamers to fend off brigade activities or coordinated hate campaigns, which have multiplied exponentially over the last few months.
By pressing this new button, the streamer activates a series of new and pre-existing functions on the platform, reminiscent of a kind of Panic Button that was created by external developers and which has become very popular recently. The Shield Mode is highly configurable and allows:
- Enable restricted modes for the chat, for example restricting it to followers only or subscribers only.
- Set verification options for chat, for example, by phone or email.
- Apply some operational levels of AutoMod.
- [new] Automatic banning for certain keywords or phrases; the ban is also retroactive, applying to all users who have recently used the terms. A list of banned people will also be available so you can fix any unwanted bans or report users individually to the moderation team (it might even be possible to report them en masse in the future).
- [new] Auto-lock for newcomers to your channel.
We are always evolving the ways we protect streamers and strengthen safety on Twitch. That’s why today we are excited to announce Shield Mode. Shield Mode is a little different from our other safety tools. While it does introduce some entirely new capabilities (we’ll get to that), its real power comes from the way it combines and levels up existing safety tools in one place.
Twitch
Shield Mode can be activated in different ways: on the main broadcast page, on the management page, and also in a chat with the /shield command (and /shieldoff to deactivate it). Note that once the mode is turned off, any changed settings will revert back to exactly how they were before. Channel moderators will also be able to access the feature.