Technique T0152.008: Live Streaming Platform

Summary: Twitch.tv and Whatnot are examples of Live Streaming Platforms.

Live Streaming Platforms allow people to create Accounts and stream live content (video or audio). A temporary open Group Chat is created alongside live streamed content for viewers to discuss the stream. Some Live Streaming Platforms allow users to archive streamed content for later non-live viewing.

The ability to stream live media is not exclusive to Live Streaming Platforms; many online platforms allow users with Accounts to stream content (such as the Video Platform YouTube’s “YouTube Live”, and the Social Media Platform Facebook’s “Facebook Live”). However, Live Streaming Platforms’ primary purpose is to be a place for people to stream content live.
Belongs to tactic stage: TA07

Incident	Descriptions given for this incident
I00124 Malign foreign interference and information influence on video game platforms: understanding the adversarial playbook	This report “Malign foreign interference and information influence on video game platforms: understanding the adversarial playbook” looks at influence operations in relation to gaming. Part of the report looks at the use of gaming platforms, including DLive; a streaming platform (T0152.008: Live Streaming Platform); “Like Twitch and YouTube, DLive is a video streaming service that enables users (also known as "streamers," or "content creators") to record themselves talking, playing video games, and other activities [...] DLive is built on blockchain technology, using its own currency directly through it rather than relying on advertising revenue.” [...] The emergence of blockchain technology has also created opportunities for reduced censorship. Due to the decentralised nature of blockchain platforms, content deletion from numerous servers takes longer than centralised systems. While DLive has community guidelines that forbid harassment or hate speech, it also allegedly provides users with protection from deplatforming, a practice where tech companies prevent individuals or groups from using their websites (Cohen, 2020). DLive's lack of content moderation and deplatforming has attracted far-right extremists and fringe streamers who have been barred from mainstream social media platforms like YouTube (Cohen, 2020; Gais & Edison Hayden, 2020). PewDiePie, one of YouTube's most popular content creators with nearly 94 million subscribers, moved exclusively to DLive in 2019. Although financial factors played a significant role in PewDiePie's decision, some have been drawn to DLive as a consequence of being deplatformed from other video streaming services (Gais & Edison Hayden, 2020). According to recent findings from ISD, extremist groups have taken advantage of the relative lack of content moderation. The platform has been used to spread racist, sexist, and homophobic content, as well as conspiracy theories that would likely be banned on other platforms (Thomas, 2021). DLive is also known to have played a role in the events leading up to the January 6th Capitol insurrection, with far- right extremists livestreaming the event and receiving donations from viewers (Lakhani, 2021, p. 9). In response to the storming of the Capitol, DLive has implemented stricter content moderation policies, including demonetisation and the banning of influential figures associated with far-right extremism (ibid, p. 18). The findings of ISD´s analysis of DLive indicates that these actions reduced the "safe harbor" that extremists had previously enjoyed on DLive (Thomas, 2021). However, some claim that extremism still has a foothold on the platform despite these efforts to remove it (Schlegel, 2021b).

Incident

Descriptions given for this incident

I00124 Malign foreign interference and information influence on video game platforms: understanding the adversarial playbook

This report “Malign foreign interference and information influence on video game platforms: understanding the adversarial playbook” looks at influence operations in relation to gaming. Part of the report looks at the use of gaming platforms, including DLive; a streaming platform (T0152.008: Live Streaming Platform);

“Like Twitch and YouTube, DLive is a video streaming service that enables users (also known as "streamers," or "content creators") to record themselves talking, playing video games, and other activities [...] DLive is built on blockchain technology, using its own currency directly through it rather than relying on advertising revenue.”

[...]

The emergence of blockchain technology has also created opportunities for reduced censorship. Due to the decentralised nature of blockchain platforms, content deletion from numerous servers takes longer than centralised systems. While DLive has community guidelines that forbid harassment or hate speech, it also allegedly provides users with protection from deplatforming, a practice where tech companies prevent individuals or groups from using their websites (Cohen, 2020). DLive's lack of content moderation and deplatforming has attracted far-right extremists and fringe streamers who have been barred from mainstream social media platforms like YouTube (Cohen, 2020; Gais & Edison Hayden, 2020). PewDiePie, one of YouTube's most popular content creators with nearly 94 million subscribers, moved exclusively to DLive in 2019. Although financial factors played a significant role in PewDiePie's decision, some have been drawn to DLive as a consequence of being deplatformed from other video streaming services (Gais & Edison Hayden, 2020).

According to recent findings from ISD, extremist groups have taken advantage of the relative lack of content moderation. The platform has been used to spread racist, sexist, and homophobic content, as well as conspiracy theories that would likely be banned on other platforms (Thomas, 2021). DLive is also known to have played a role in the events leading up to the January 6th Capitol insurrection, with far- right extremists livestreaming the event and receiving donations from viewers (Lakhani, 2021, p. 9). In response to the storming of the Capitol, DLive has implemented stricter content moderation policies, including demonetisation and the banning of influential figures associated with far-right extremism (ibid, p. 18). The findings of ISD´s analysis of DLive indicates that these actions reduced the "safe harbor" that extremists had previously enjoyed on DLive (Thomas, 2021). However, some claim that extremism still has a foothold on the platform despite these efforts to remove it (Schlegel, 2021b).

Counters	Response types

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Technique T0152.008: Live Streaming Platform

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