"It was a boys' club," another woman said of working there. One of the most common assertions we heard from employees was that Twitch is not a welcoming environment for women, with one saying the company demonstrated "an explicit tolerance for misogyny." "Many of these allegations are years old, and we've taken numerous steps to better protect and support our employees and community, and will continue to invest time and resources in this area." "No one really took women seriously there." Any suggestions to the contrary misrepresent our culture, leadership, and values.
When we told Twitch what we had heard from those employees, a spokesperson for the company replied, "We take any allegations of this nature extremely seriously, whether on our service or within our company, and work swiftly to investigate and address them as appropriate. A few said they never saw anything of the sort in their time with the company most of them had stories confirming different aspects of the original employee's allegations.
In the months since, we have spoken with 16 Twitch employees from every era of the company dating back to when it was. "Twitch repeatedly swept accounts of harassment and abuse under the rug: sexual, verbal, physical abuse, and racism. This employee made it clear she had nothing to gain by coming forward, but felt it was more important to hold Twitch accountable for its actions, and lack thereof. "I've been hesitant for years to share my story and the events that happened to me during my employment at Twitch," she said, "but with the recent events and their statement on Twitter, I feel compelled to share and speak out against their blatant lies to 'create a safe community.'" Shortly after that statement, a former Twitch employee approached to come forward with allegations of systemic sexism, racism, and abuse like Shear had referenced. This reckoning and industry-wide actions are overdue, and this is another issue that we, and the industry, need to address to create lasting and positive change."
The gaming industry is not unlike others that have had to reckon with systemic sexism, racism, and abuse that rewards certain people and disadvantages - even harms - others. Twitch CEO Emmett Shear posted a memo he sent to staff about the allegations on Twitter, saying, "We support people coming forward, commend their bravery in doing so, and know there are many others who have not. When the games industry saw its most recent wave of abuse allegations take shape in June, it included dozens of accusations against Twitch streamers. Content warning: The following article discusses sexual assault, verbal and physical abuse, harassment, and suicide.
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