What is view botting on Twitch?

View botting on Twitch can be a tempting method to boost one’s brand, but is also an illegitimate way to manipulate the site’s algorithms. But, what is view botting? And why do people use view bots on Twitch?

With so many streamers on Twitch, some have resorted to nefarious means to gain a competitive advantage against the competition.

Several streamers have either been the victim of or have used ‘view botting’ to increase their engagement on the Twitch platform.

But what exactly is view botting, and how and why is it used by streamers? Here’s a breakdown of the concept, including what it is, whether it is legal, and examples of streamers either acknowledging or being accused of using viewbots.

Contents

• What does view botting mean on Twitch?
• Is view botting allowed on Twitch?
• Can you tell if someone is using view bots?
• Has view botting been used by big streamers on Twitch?

Twitter: Twitch

What does view botting mean on Twitch?

Simply put, view botting on Twitch is the practice of artificially inflating a live view count” in order to make one’s viewership stats look higher than they really are.

This includes the usage of bots — artificial pieces of software that can be developed for a variety of different tasks — to open up live streams and, in turn, increase the viewership numbers of a particular Twitch channel. Essentially, view botting makes it look like you have more viewers than you actually do.

Note that is not the same as “follow-botting,” which is a term used to describe individuals that use bot accounts to follow a particular Twitch user, and thus, increase the profile of said account.

The issue with view botting is that, through this method, one can unfairly gain an advantage, as the algorithms tend to promote channels with higher engagements and views than ones with less viewership.

It seems like a sound idea, but it’s also not allowed on the platform.

Is view botting allowed on Twitch?

No, view botting is not allowed on Twitch. The Amazon-owned platform makes that very clear within its policies.

Twitch’s policies prohibit the usage of view botting on the platform and can apply sanctions to anyone that is caught using artificial software in order to boost viewership and followers. This can include and up to indefinite suspensions, per Twitch.

However, it won’t punish anyone that has been hit by view bots, so long as the individual is not responsible for the action.

Can you tell if someone is using view bots?

There are no definitive ways to tell whether one is using viewbots in order to boost engagement. However, there are a couple of ways that one can attempt to figure out whether someone is making use of bots on Twitch.

Examples include inordinate viewership spikes, large viewership numbers but low chat engagement, or weird comments in the chat that don’t make much sense.

However, it is important to note that in these situations, there is no true method to find out whether a Twitch user is looking to manipulate the algorithms, or just being attacked by viewbots.

Has view botting been used by big streamers on Twitch?

G4’s Kevin Pereira admitted to using view bots in 2018.

View botting has become a controversial topic in recent years, and even large streamers are not exempt from accusations of using this approach, even from their own.

Twitch streamer Trainwreck in 2022 made his belief known that he suspected many of the top Twitch streamers made use of bots and the existence of them was a major problem for the platform.

Now, we should note that there have been some questions that have surrounded well-known gaming figures in recent years and their suspected usage of bots.

Back in 2018, former G4 host Kevin Pereira was banned from Twitch after he admitted to using bots to increase viewership on his “The Attack” livestreams. Pereira told Polygon after the ban that he used bots to boost his viewership simply because he felt that he had nothing to lose.

A year later, League of Legends streamer Tyler1 appeared to have tipped his hands that he was using viewbots, before admitting that he just attempted to do so as a ruse in order to garner more attention on Twitch.

A more recent example of this came years later in June 2023, when Mizkif was accused of using bots after his streams became infested with them. Mizkif maintained he had no involvement with the view botting.