Twitch source code, creator revenue, passwords, more leaked in hack

In a significant leak, an anonymous hacker seems to have leaked all of Twitch, including its source code. The user released a torrent on 4chan containing 128GB worth of information. We won’t be linking to the original post here due to the sensitive nature of the content.

The poster stated that made a point of Twitch being a subsidiary of Amazon and went on to say that “their community is also a disgusting toxic cesspool” and that they wanted to “foster more disruption and competition in the online streaming space.”

One of the major items included in the leak is the creator payout reports from 2019 up to now, the user stating, “find out how much your favorite streamers is really making!” On top of this, it seems that Twitch is working on a Steam competitor from Amazon Game Studios, currently codenamed “Vapor.” Most dangerously, passwords have been included in the leak, so if you have a Twitch account, it’s recommended you change your password and have Two-Factor Authentication (2FA).

This leak comes hot off the heels of Twitch coming under fire for their lack of appropriate response to the continuous hate raids that have been happening on their platform. The hate raids have, in particular, targeted marginalized identities, including BICOP and LGBTQIA+ people, but it’s unclear whether this hack is meant to be a response to Twitch’s inaction or a general dislike of the service.

The original post did include the hashtag “DoBetterTwitch,” a tag used on Twitter as a way for creators on the platform to ask for better tools to battle the hate raids and a general call for improvements on things like creator revenue. The inclusion of the hashtag doesn’t necessarily mean that this was the intention of the hacker, as including passwords just puts more people at risk.