Kick CEO admits Trainwreck was right about viewbotting after thinking he was “crazy”

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Kick’s CEO, Eddie Craven, now acknowledges that artificially inflating viewer numbers—known as viewbotting—is a significant issue. This admission comes after he initially questioned the seriousness of the problem, which streamer Trainwreck had previously raised concerns about.

Viewbotting is a long-standing problem in live streaming. It involves using bots to fake high viewer numbers, making it seem like a streamer has a larger audience than they actually do.

Trainwreck, a co-founder of Kick, has frequently warned about the use of viewbots on Twitch and similar platforms. He alleges that some streamers are spending as much as $20,000 each week on services that artificially inflate their viewer numbers.

He claims that up to 90% of the most popular streamers on Twitch are using bots to artificially increase their viewer counts.

Okay, so it looks like the whole fake viewer number issue on Kick is even bigger than we thought! I’ve been following the drama, and it’s pretty wild to hear Eddie Craven admit that Trainwreck was right to be worried about it from the start. They’re trying to fix things on both platforms, but it’s clearly a more serious problem than anyone initially realized.

Kick CEO says viewbotting is a huge problem and many people are involved

Eddie mentioned on his podcast that he was happy to see so many people speaking up against those using viewbots, especially after Trainwreck initially brought the issue to light.

I initially thought Train was acting erratically. I didn’t understand why he kept talking about viewbotting,” he explained, describing his first reaction to the situation. Like Sarah Connor in the Terminator movies, Trainwreck was giving warnings that people weren’t listening to.

Kick CEO Eddie has admitted he was mistaken about the issue of viewbotting on the platform. He acknowledges he initially dismissed warnings from streamer TrainwrecksTV and now recognizes the problem is far more significant than he previously thought. He believes the entire streaming industry is now being forced to address this widespread, hidden issue. He originally thought TrainwrecksTV’s concerns were unfounded, but now realizes he was wrong.

— Nolimitzor (@Nolimitzor_X) January 4, 2026

Wow, this whole situation turned out to be a huge mess. It’s way worse than I initially thought, and a lot more people are tangled up in it than I realized. I remember Train mentioning something similar years ago – like four or five years ago – and he was blowing up my messages, just constantly sending them. At the time, I thought he was the one losing it, but honestly, it looks like I was way off base and I’m the one who didn’t see things clearly.

Now that 2026 has started, it will be interesting to watch how platforms address the problem of fake view counts.

Stableronaldo said that his previous managers suggested he artificially inflate his viewer numbers on Kick to secure a sponsorship deal.

Twitch streamer QueenGloriaRP was recently banned after accidentally revealing she was using a program to artificially inflate her viewer count during a live stream. She then calmly ended the broadcast.

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2026-01-06 00:49