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Twitch launches anti-bot crackdown and viewership numbers plummet across the platform overnight: Turns out 50% of the audience was just robots pretending to enjoy hot tub streams. (spilled.gg)

submitted 4 days ago by Pro@programming.dev to c/Technology@programming.dev

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Twitch's new anti-bot system caused viewer counts to nosedive across hundreds of channels, with some losing over half their displayed audience.

Channels running 24/7 reruns saw the biggest drops, with Mira falling from 2,000+ to under 200 viewers overnight.

The cleanup affects sponsorship deals and ad rates since brands have been paying premium prices for audiences that were partially fake.

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[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

They have to if they want to make profitable investment.

I know "turning a profit" hasn't been fashionable of late (which is why these phoney baloney bot populations have been tolerated for so long). But we're running out of free money to throw around for anyone outside the MAG7.

Could be that purging the fake accounts is something their investors are demanding. Idk

this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2025

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