GoostieBee

A new user entered my chat, making their username my street address, and announcing my legal name, full address, and phone number to everyone that was on my stream. My moderator quickly deleted the messages, but before we could block or ban the user, they immediately followed me, as they knew that information would stay on my chat no matter what.

In addition, they attempted to sign into my PayPal account multiple times. I saw all the attempts on my phone, as I require any sign in to send me a code to ensure it is me. They seemed to realize that after a few minutes and stopped. I froze for a few minutes, then I ended my stream, took down the VOD, but I still have the recording on me for evidence. I have changed all my passwords.

Unfortunately, I am unable to hide my private information on PayPal. Even when making a business account, it did not give me the option to. 

The moderator that was there that night reported this individual as soon as they realized this was my private information. They got a default response saying the report would be addressed soon. Roughly an hour after stream ended, they received a message saying action had been taken. They did not say how or in what way.

I was shell shocked when this happened, but when I recovered a bit, I reported the account in the morning. I made a ticket through their contact page, as I was unaware of how to report an account. I got a default response saying they would address my situation. An hour later, they responded, saying I was not addressing this the traditional way and told me to report them as I should have. They ignored the fact they doxxed me. I got a default response when I reported the traditional way they asked for immediately, and I have not heard anything since then. I am surprised there was no more detail about the actions they took, as the severity of doxxing doesn't feel like it was taken as seriously as it should. Their phrasing gives way to the smallest punishment being possibly just an account removal, as opposed to something permanent like the IP ban they mentioned being possible in the email, or legal action being taken through Twitch.

I am unable to contact my local authorities regarding this issue. This is due to my location. Where I live, there would be no chance of a case standing in court. The police closest to my area are only volunteers, we have no actual authority. Even if I discussed this with another town nearby, it would be dismissed and I would be told sorry, and that be it. This is due to the police in my area not willing to investigate situations like this. And, as much as I hate to say it, it also does not help that I am a woman. Female cases get dismissed quickly where I live.

The best I can do is contact Twitch regarding this case. They only told me to report them, as submitting a ticket through their contact page was ‘not sent the proper way.’ Ever since I submitted again, all I received was an automatic response on that same day. For all I know, this user could make another account and submit the same information. They didn’t tell me nor my moderator if anything will actually be done to stop this from happening again.

Now comes the question as to why this happened. I have no idea, as I am not able to get any answers. I don’t even know if I will without Twitch’s help. I do not know of anyone specific that would want to do this. Currently, however, there is one suspicion I have. I signed up for the TikTok replacement, RedNote, on Tuesday January 14th, that same week. When I was filling out my bio via my profile, I was forced to show the state I lived in. There was an option to make this private; however, even when switching it to private, it still showed it publicly. In addition, there are one of two ways to sign up for the app: entering your phone number and logging in via your store account (i.e.: Apple or Google Play). I did not want to put any card information on, so I went with my phone. I never posted anything on this account, I made this ahead of time in case the TikTok ban took effect. This, combined with my state being shown, feels like it was enough to hone in on where I am.

I want to stress, this may not be it. I could be completely wrong. I hope I am wrong. I saw how nice the community was in welcoming ‘TikTok refugees’ and what type of conversations everyone was having. However, I don’t want to rule out this could have been the reasoning behind my doxxing. Just because everything seems nice to everyone does not mean there won’t be any bad actors in that crowd.

Until I get some kind of response, I am in the dark. There have not been any other signs of this person emerging again, but if anyone sees a message formatted like above, please let me know.

And now is the most important part. I don’t want anyone else to get doxxed. It does not matter how big or small you are, you can get doxxed on your livestream like I did. I was reminded about blocked terms after the incident. For the love of god, please add your address and your phone number. If your legal name is uncommon, include it. Do all sorts of variations of all this information. Do your I/P address as well, just in case. Make all of these terms private. This means not even your mods can see this, it will only be you. 

Always ensure, as well, you have a trusted moderator in your chat. I am lucky that I had one moderator in my chat that night that deleted the messages as soon as possible as well as flooded chat so it would get hidden on my side and cleared chat once I ended stream.