On March 2, three popular women Twitch streamers — Rachel “Valkyrae” Hofstetter, Brittany “Cinna” Watts, and Emily “Emiru” Schunk — were accosted by a man who appeared to be a fan of theirs during a live stream at the Santa Monica Pier. After one of the women denied his request for her phone number, he seemingly followed them as they neared the exit before lunging at them and yelling, “I’ll kill you right now.” The women screamed for security and fled before the stream cut to a holding screen.
Many believe what happened to the women was an example of “stream sniping,” a trend that involves viewers using visual clues to seek out content creators doing IRL (in real life) streams and attempting to get in the video, or, in extreme cases, harassing, threatening, or attacking a streamer.
And while women streamers are more prone to harassment, stream sniping affects people across the spectrum. Last year, Darren “iShowSpeed” Watkins, Jr. was mobbed by a massive crowd of Norwegian fans while broadcasting live in the streets of Oslo. In August 2024, popular political streamer Hasan “Hasanabi” Piker was live from an Uber when a car pulled up next to him and appeared to ask the driver, “Is Hasan with you?”
“Bro, just keep going,” Piker urged the driver of the vehicle he was in. “That’s fucking insane.”
For women, stream sniping can often come with an added layer of concern, and rightfully so: In January 2023, Japanese streamer Shibuya Kaho took to X (formerly Twitter) to say she was “scared in so many ways” by her Twitch chat showing up at a train station after one of her IRL casts ended. “They knew I was trying to catch my last train after streaming in Shizuoka,” she wrote.
In December 2023, Twitch streamer Lydia “lydiaviolet” was doing a holiday-themed IRL stream around London when a man in a hoodie began following her. “What are you doing?,” she asked. “I’m following orders,” he replied. She repeatedly tried to get away from him, suggesting he walk in one direction while she walked in the other.
A week and a half after the incident with Valkyrae, Cinna, and Emiru, a Japanese streamer named Airi Sato, known for her IRL streams, was stabbed over 30 times in a busy Tokyo street by a man who reportedly told police that the content creator owed him money. The man allegedly figured out where Airi Sato was by following her live stream. Her attack was briefly caught on air; she was taken to a local hospital but died from her wounds.
Stream sniping has become a more pervasive problem for both online and IRL streamers, but there are ways that creators can protect themselves when taking their broadcasts out into the real world.
Stream sniping is when a viewer deliberately — and often maliciously — tries to insert themselves into a live stream to hijack, derail, or otherwise disrupt the experience. It’s usually done virtually when creators play online multiplayer shooters (hence the term “sniping”), with stream snipers either seeking out the person playing a game like Fortnite, or simply following a streamer around after realizing they’re in the same game lobby.
Since their POV is being live-streamed to an audience, it’s easy for stream snipers to know where they might be on the virtual map, what kind of equipment they’re carrying, what cosmetics they have on, and other identifying factors. In some instances, stream snipers just want to eliminate popular personalities in a given match, seeking them out to gun them down or otherwise mess with their chances of winning a game. In battle royale games like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Call of Duty: Warzone, death is an immediate elimination, which can frustrate streamers trying to get exciting footage for their viewers — and there’s nothing more exciting than a win.
Sometimes, stream snipers are just looking to make a comedic impact. Félix “xQc” Lengyel has 12 million followers on Twitch, and he’s spent a lot of his time streaming Fortnite. He was famously plagued by a stream sniper known as Juul Trooper, who would wear a banana costume when seeking out Lengyel to kill him and then emote over his character’s dead body, usually by playing the saxophone while the creator screamed with rage.
Other times, stream snipers are also streamers themselves, using the tactic to make their own content. Content creator Spaiidz has several YouTube videos dedicated to stream sniping, with titles like “I Stream Sniped Until He Gave Me VBucks” or “I Stream Sniped Until He Gave Me His Account.”
Successful stream snipers often share videos from their point of view, with clips of them targeting content creators often garnering millions of views on YouTube and elsewhere.
Popular games like Call of Duty and Sea of Thieves have tools to help prevent stream sniping, like an ability to turn on “Streamer Mode” that hides the player’s real gamertag, or the option to hide a server name so bad actors can’t log into a server to find them in-game.
Stream sniping is a frustrating experience for those who are targeted, but it’s a very different story when they are “stream sniped” in real life.
Though in-game stream sniping can range from funny to annoying, things can get dangerous when the practice transitions into the real world.
There are plenty of examples of IRL stream snipers pulling fairly harmless pranks on streamers, like someone pulling up in a cab while Andy “CookSux” streamed in South Korea to hand him several bags of food out of the window, or Jason “jasontheween” Nguyen pretending to “stream snipe” a fellow content creator and friend, Clix, running up to him mid-IRL stream.
But then there is the kind of real-world stream-sniping that can be strange, sinister, or flat-out dangerous.
Connor Marc Colquhoun, known online as “ConnorDawg,” has 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube, and he often does IRL streams. In a January 2023 YouTube video, Colquhoun describes stream sniping, saying that it is “kind of accepted to be okay,” before adding, “it’s a thing to do in streaming for some reason it doesn’t really have a bad rep, as long as the person is normally cool.”
But what if they aren’t? “There are some dangers,” he says in the video, referencing Shibuya Kaho’s unnerving train station experience when she was approached after a stream. “This is extremely concerning, especially considering that Kaho was streaming alone.”
iShowSpeed is a content creator who often does IRL live streams on YouTube to his 36 million followers and is often targeted by stream snipers. During a massive global tour last year, Watkins, who did not respond to a request for comment, faced throngs of fans across Europe, culminating in a terrifying event in Oslo, Norway on July 3, 2024.
As detailed in a video titled “the scariest day of my life,” Watkins live-streamed while visiting a souvenir shop that was quickly surrounded by fans. “I literally just got here, bro,” he said to the crowd waiting outside the shop. “This is bad though. What the fuck? I just started my stream bro.” As he tried to leave, the crowd appeared to refuse to back away from the door. “Stream canceled, I literally cannot go outside,” he said, before he was ushered into a back stairway to leave out of a different exit.
Fans were waiting for him at that exit as well, chanting his name and appearing to grab him as he tried to leave. He doubled back into the building, visibly angry, hitting the walls with a novelty Thor-style hammer. He eventually called the Norwegian police, saying “I am a YouTuber and I have 25 million subs. I am currently at this souvenir shop in Norway, and there are maybe around 1,000 to 2,000 people banging on the door. I need help to get out of this shop.”
As he waited for the car to pick him up, he looked out at the crowd of people from a second-story window, begging them to leave, flipping them off, and eventually performing a spin move he invented called the “Sewey,” which caused him to injure his ankle. “I think I just broke my ankle,” he said, wincing.
Just two months later, several thousand Singaporeans reportedly joined a Telegram channel in an attempt to stream snipe iShowSpeed during his tour of Southeast Asia. Though it never got as intense as his experience in Oslo, Watkins was met with huge crowds of fans as he walked down the famous Arab Street, with one challenging him to a footrace, another asking him to participate in the “Smash or Pass” trend, and another gifting him a brand-new iPhone.
On March 18, iShowSpeed announced he’ll be doing a massive IRL stream in China, clearly undeterred by his experiences.
It’s difficult to prevent harassment, stalkers, and real-life stream snipers, but creators can do several things to make their IRL streaming somewhat safer. The common tactics suggested by fellow streamers or in community message boards include avoiding streaming in spaces with easily identifiable landmarks, street signs, addresses, or easily searchable businesses, and not showing the exterior areas near where you live, in case bad actors are attempting to discover your address.
If you plan on streaming in more easily recognizable places, adding a delay to your broadcast can help thwart those trying to geolocate you.
“My very boring answer is that I don’t tell people where I am live [streaming] unless there is some amount of security involved. There really isn’t a safe way for people with followings to do that,” Twitch streamer jorbs told me on BlueSky. “I don’t think it’s safe to be in person with people with security involved either, but people have different amounts of risk tolerance.”
Justin “SJC” Schainberg has been streaming since 2008. He often streams daily IRL vlogs of his life walking around Hollywood Boulevard or attending protests, and tells Rolling Stone that he feels like the format is the best way for him to express himself. “The selfie stick is my paintbrush and the world is my canvas,” he says. “I search for moments that are impossible to duplicate, and the fact that I catch it at that moment is pure art to me.”
Though he’s been lucky enough to avoid “toxic” people on his IRL streams, for those taking it up, he offers some advice: “Be aware of your surroundings,” he says. “A lot of it is thinking on your own, 20 steps ahead.”
John Phipps, a former Marine and combat veteran with experience providing physical security for individuals at public events like PAX East, tells Rolling Stone that streamers should “always stream within eyesight and earshot of public gatherings.” Public-facing events are less likely to be targeted by bad actors, and even if they are, there would be plenty of eyewitnesses or people to help in case something happened.
Women, in particular, should be on alert. “Sucks that I have to say this, but if you’re a woman I’d advise having physical security within 30 feet, and make sure they advertise their presence,” Phipps says. “Eighty percent of people will be immediately deterred by the presence of physical security.”
If a bad actor is not deterred by security and approaches you, there are steps you can take. “Instruct your security to prevent contact and physically remove [the person approaching you] from your space,” he says. “If this isn’t possible, have your security escort you from the area. Don’t engage physically or verbally.”
But security is a luxury most Twitch streamers cannot afford. Phipps has suggestions for those streamers who can’t foot such a lofty bill, and it involves taking safety into their own hands. “If you don’t have or can’t afford physical security, be armed,” he says, suggesting non-lethal protective devices like mace or a Taser.
But avoid firearms. “I’m usually a proponent of vulnerable people concealed carrying, but if you’re going to be streaming in a public venue and you’re not trained I’d strongly advise against pulling a firearm.”
For Valkyrae, whose IRL stream turned scary in the blink of an eye, she’ll never go live without being prepared again. She posted on X on March 5, “I always over confidently imagined I would be able to defend myself and others,” but the way that she and the other two women were accosted made her reconsider. “I’ll never be out without a taser/pepper gun ever again, I’ll never joke about being strong enough to handle being attacked again, and I’ll always take threats like this seriously.”
From Rolling Stone US
