Twitch has stepped up its moderation game with a recent update to how banning users works. The Amazon-owned company has adjusted the way those who are banned can interact with the stream, if at all.

This move was announced via Twitter on March 27th when Twitch stated, “Blocking users now removes them from your Followers list. Channel banning users will remove them from your Chat list so you don’t have to see them anymore.”

This means that those who are banned will be unable to see chat at all and the streamer won’t even be able to see that they’re lurking in the chat list.

In addition, Devin Nash, CMO of N3RD Fusion and a Twitch Partner, has reported that those who are channel banned are now also IP shadowbanned. This means that even if they make a new account, they will be unable to chat or harass the streamer.

“For context/clarity — we tested this using main and [alternate] accounts. Unbanning removes the shadowban from all accounts,” Nash added. “I’m a fan of giving more power to broadcasters. These new tools enable us to curate toxicity from our communities with more reliability,” he explained.

Upon further questioning regarding whether other users could see them in the chat list, Twitch provided a little more insight. “Blocked users won’t be able to refollow – additionally, they can’t whisper, host, request friendship, or purchase gift subs,” Twitch responded. “Banned users will not appear in the chat list at all – they also will not be able to see any messages in chat from other users, either.”

This is a big step for Twitch as they look to further remove the growing pool of trolls and make their platform more hospitable for all.

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