Twitch under fire after “malicious” chargeback puts streamer in debt

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Streamer Viiki and others strongly criticized Twitch following an incident where a user, after gifting her subscriptions, initiated a chargeback with their bank, causing Viiki to accumulate debt.

In early January 2025, this particular streamer was spotlighted on Twitch’s main page, where she revealed that during her live stream, an individual dropped by unexpectedly to bestow a cluster of subscriptions upon her.

Nevertheless, Viiki stated that they had apparently overlooked other financial obligations and would require the funds returned, after which they alleged that the user initiated a chargeback for almost $250 worth of subscription services.

On social networking sites, she voiced concern over Twitch’s inadequate safeguards against unjustified chargebacks, expressing distrust towards donations (subs) and cheers (bits) given to her on the platform due to these issues.

Twitch called out after chargeback puts streamer in debt

She posted a warning that Twitch does not provide any safeguards. Despite being on the front page of Twitch a month ago, someone spent over six hours with me, bragged about their wealth, and donated subs/bits which I appreciated. However, he later started harassing my community and talent agency because he claimed he needed the money back due to forgotten expenses.

I’m really disappointed because this feels unfair and it’s ruined my enjoyment on the main page. I’ve been unexpectedly charged $242.32, which is causing me concern. This incident has left me hesitant about accepting any subscriptions or bits in the future. Allowing chargebacks under these circumstances seems to create financial instability for creators and potentially encourages viewers to misuse the system.

After disclosing that the chargeback left her owing $111 to Twitch, it turned out that as her post gained traction on platform X, a multitude of users began subscribing to her channel using their Twitch Prime subscriptions.

“You see, I can thank you for those!!! You can’t charge back twitch primes!!! Yet??” she added.

Hey there fellow gamers! Just wanted to share a heads-up: Twitch doesn’t provide any direct protection for streamers, unlike many people seem to believe. A month ago, I found myself on the front page, and this guy dropped by for over six hours, flaunting his wealth and generously donating subs and bits. I appreciated it, but then things took a turn for the worse when he started harassing me. Just a friendly reminder to always stay vigilant while streaming, folks!

— Viiki (@itssviiki) February 12, 2025

Gladly, thanks to my awesome community’s support, I managed to clear the $111 debt and even found myself owed money from the surge in subscriptions. Not long after, I shared a troubling email from Twitch, accusing them of overlooking the nuances of the situation by disregarding its context.

Apparently, no action will be taken. It’s clear now that the individual in question was a fraud, seeking attention from a featured spot and craving hero status. However, Twitch seems to disregard the context from his chat logs, emails, or tweets. She expressed her feelings by saying, ‘He’s draining purple more like drying up, trying to get back at them.’

Reframe: It appears that no action will be taken, given the fact we’ve discovered the viewer was a fraud and sought attention by attempting to secure a spot on the front page. However, Twitch seems to overlook the context from his chat logs, emails, or tweets. Essentially, he’s “bleeding purple,” trying to get back at them, but it feels more like “bleeding dry.

— Viiki (@itssviiki) February 13, 2025

Later on, users recounted comparable instances where subscriptions were returned without explanation, pointing fingers at Twitch for making this occur seemingly effortlessly.

“Absoutely insane that this has been allowed to happen,” one user said.

One person commented, ‘Amazing! Twitch really shouldn’t have offered refunds in this case as no fraud occurred.’

A third person mentioned, ‘Initially, I believed subscriptions were the ideal method of support because Twitch provided us protection. However, it turns out that’s not great. In fact, I’d prefer donations now as PayPal seems to offer more security for us.’

On previous occasions, Twitch has faced criticism from its streamers due to controversies. For instance, in September last year, some VTubers accused the platform, which is owned by Amazon, of being unjust or even bullying, following the bans of several prominent creators.

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2025-02-14 00:50