Privacy

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PSA: Twitch Shadowbans Users on VPN + Linux (lemmy.ml)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

59 comments fedilink hide all child comments

If you notice your chat messages show up in the chat feed but don't appear on the streamers in-screen chat, you have been shadowbanned.

Twitch will still take your money for donations, subs, etc, but your feedback won't be seen by anybody but you. This shadowban does not appear in the appeals page and can be applied randomly and intermittently. You are never informed about this by the way. You'll likely be talking in a chat and assuming you're being ignored. Hop into a private tab and load up the stream where you'll be able to notice if your messages are missing in chat.

From my observations, there seems to be some type of algorithm/system that determines who to shadowban. I'm assuming it assigns extra points for factors like VPN usage, Linux, and adblockers. Once you've been shadowbanned, switching one of those three will not work to unban you until some arbitrary timer expires.

I'm posting this in case anybody else has experienced this and felt frustrated and isolated. You're not being ignored (unless you're a twat and are being ignored). You're just being punished by Twitch for being privacy conscious.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 6 months ago (6 children)

Do you have anything more than assumptions to go on for the reasons? If you only assume those are the reasons you shouldn't announce them as a big headline item.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 months ago (4 children)

Your question is a good one. I'm not the one who downvoted you fyi. To answer your question, it is absolutely a personal anecdote based on my own experimentation. I'm sure others will add their own experiences. Based on my experiences there's no doubt about twitch shadowbanning based on VPN use. I'll admit I don't have a basis for Linux and adblockers being a part of the equation, but I made it clear in my original post that those were assumptions.

To further speculate, I have an idea that the shadowban may actually be triggered by somebody using the same VPN server doing something that triggers it, affecting anybody else on that server. I can't possibly provide evidence for that theory, but it would explain the seemingly random nature of the shadowbans.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago

For what its worth, I have seen the same thing with a VPN. Sometimes changing servers will work. They also flat out block logins if they don't like your browser settings.

I just gave up on using the site. If they tell you you don't need protection, YOU NEED PROTECTION.

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