Twitch aimed to promote its Fright Fest event with a scary stream announcement but, the comments section turned out to be the real horror show. The official tweet of the streaming platform about its event “Paranormal Detour” along with streamer Detune on October 29 humorously got filled with 댓글 from famished audience pointing at Twitch‘s unprofessionalism in dealing with serious issues related to the platform. Gamers would not stop at anything so they went ahead and turned what was meant to be a fun Halloween promo into a public roasting session.
The tweet was like a typical Twitch promotion – “If you are reading this, you almost survived Fright Fest. We’ve got one last scare though – tune into Paranormal Detour with /detune on 10/29.” Just your basic streaming platform hype talk, right? But then you scroll and whoa. The comments section became a digital graveyard filled with complaints about the non-existent moderation policies at Twitch.
Numerous replies brought up the topic of sexual assault controversies that have been going on in the platform for quite some time now. A commenter said, “Besides the sexual assault you allow on your platform,” and a different poet even pointed out that “What’s scary is @Twitch support for sexual abuse against women.” The comments kept coming and that smoke referred clearly to streamers and incidents that Twitch had been punished in the past for not taking care of the situation properly. It felt as if everyone was just waiting for an official Twitch tweet to let their anger out.
The references to TwitchCon were not few. So many comparisons were there to the recent TwitchCon events being the true “Fright Fest.” One user nailed it: “If you’re reading this, you survived Twitchcon 2025. The true Fright Fest.” Another remarked: “The real frightfest was twitchcon – a sexual assaulter could jump out at you at any moment!” They were indeed not letting Twitch turn a blind eye to the security issues and incidents that took place at their live events.
Allegations of animal abuse were also in the mix with multiple comments naming specific streamers who were accused of mistreating pets. “From Emiru to having a Dog Abuser on their platform, it’s starting to sicken me,” one person wrote. The comments section turned into a loud chaotic mix of serious allegations and dark humor, with people fighting on behalf of Twitch’s own Halloween theme.
What is really surprising is the strong feeling that the backlash was very much organized. Normally you would expect to see a mix of positive and negative comments on brand tweets, but in this case the comments were all negative. Just a handful of comments linked to the Paranormal Detour event. One user inquired about the badges and emotes mentioned in the original tweet, while another expressed some excitement about Detune’s stream. However, so strong was the criticism that it overwhelmed the positive reactions.
Twitch has been struggling with moderation issues for several years now but this particular response is very intense. Maybe people are just fed up with what they see as inconsistent application of the platform’s rules. The comments kept referring to specific instances where they felt that Twitch had failed to do justice to the issue of concern while promoting Halloween activities.
The whole situation raises the question of how streaming platforms deal with the parallel of community management compared to promotional activities. When the number of users talking about serious concerns in your official marketing posts is that high, is it not time to first resolve the root issues? Just a thought.
However, Detune was probably thinking, “hey dudes, I was planning to play scary games” and now his stream announcement has become the center of platform criticism. Poor guy. Still, it should be said that the event of Paranormal Detour does look a bit nice for people who actually want to watch Halloween-themed content and not read about the platform drama.
The irony in the timing is rather remarkable – Twitch trying to lure people with Halloween content while players say that the real scary stuff is actually happening on the platform. It is almost like being in one of those situations when you are watching a horror movie, and someone says, “this is not horror. What is really horrifying? My student loan debt.” It gives a similar feel.
To sum up, the current tweet and its responses illuminate the complexities entwined in the operation of a mammoth streaming platform. You try to promote a delightfully seasonal event and before you know it, you have caught up with allegations ranging from moderation policies, event security, and pet treatment. It is a stark reminder that community trust is everything for gaming platforms, and once the trust is broken, even simple promotional posts can become the center of criticism.
Twitch’s Fright Fest turned out to be way scarier than they probably intended it to be. The angry comments section is much more terrifying than the ghosts and monsters from their Halloween event. Maybe next year, they could think about addressing the frightening issues instead
