A Twitch streamer has been banned after bragging about having over 100,000 viewers and getting called out for “viewbotting.”
Viewbotting has been a major issue in the world of streaming with some creators paying for bots to make it appear as if they’re more popular than they actually are.
On April 20, streamer ‘vpnninja87’ posted a screenshot of hisTwitchstats to X, bragging that he had reached 100K viewers for the first time. The screenshot also revealed that he only had 39 unique chatters, which didn’t sit well with other members of the Twitch community.
FaZe Kalei was one streamer to take offense and put vpnninja87 on blast writing, “You have to be the biggest loser to not only viewbot but then flex your stats after you viewbot.”
you have to be the biggest loser to not only viewbot but then flex your stats after you viewbot 😭https://t.co/nohnk50CUe
“This is what glorifying egregious embedding (he openly says he embeds) looks like,” Gothalionchimed in. “There’s nothing for this worm to celebrate.”
Vpnninja87 defended his actions,comparing an embedded streamto standard marketing tactics.
Unfortunately for the streamer, this bragging may have come back to haunt him, as his account washit with a banfor violating Twitch’s Community Guidelines or Terms of Service.
This is hardly the first time a streamer has been banned for skewing their numbers. Earlier this year, Kick banned a creator after they showed howeasy it was to code viewbots.
Related:
Although many Kick streamers have been accused of viewbotting, co-founder Trainwreck claimed that Twitch has its own problem, suggesting that the Amazon-owned platformhouses the “number one” viewbotted streamer.
So far vpnninja87 hasn’t revealed when he’ll be unbanned or if he plans to continue using embeds to artificially inflate his view count.
Michael Gwilliam is Dexerto’s Deputy Entertainment Editor in the US. He expertly covers trending stories across Twitch, Kick, YouTube, TikTok, as well as Overwatch, GTA, and Smash Bros. You can contact him at: michael.gwilliam@dexerto.com
