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Blizzard vows to fight abuse in Twitch chat, calls on industry to join in

"This is ultimately an industry-wide issue, and it will take all of us to make a real impact," says Blizzard president Mike Morhaime.

Christian Nutt, Contributor

May 17, 2016

1 Min Read

"To help combat this type of behavior during live events ... we're investigating a pilot program that Twitch has in the works to streamline moderation and combat ban evasion.

We're also updating our esports tournament partner policies with a stronger system of checks, balances, and repercussions to provide a better chat experience around our content."

- Blizzard president Mike Morhaime

A Hearthstone competitor named Terrence Miller was abused with racist insults during a recent stream, and Blizzard president Mike Morhaime says that the company is taking steps, in partnership with streaming platform Twitch, to nip that kind of behavior in the bud.

In a new interview with Polygon, Morhaime says, "We believe these are important steps to take to help address the related issues, but we acknowledge that they only address part of the problem. This is ultimately an industry-wide issue, and it will take all of us to make a real impact."

"I knew it would be bad, but I didn’t think it would be that bad," Miller told Polygon, of the abuse. 

For more from Morhaime, read the full interview; more on Miller's experience is here.

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2016

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