How to Spot a Fake Twitch Viewer and Keep Your Channel Safe

Spotting fake Twitch viewers isn’t about protecting your channel, it can also be about figuring out how to avoid getting caught if you’re buying viewers. Some streamers learn how to identify fake viewers in order to keep their channels safe, yet these viewers (unless in massive numbers) won’t necessarily affect channels. They’re simply everywhere.

On the other hand, people want to learn how to spot bots in order to buy some and go undetected. Either way, with technological advancements in bots these days, the main thing to pay attention to is unnatural behavior.

With this thought in mind, here’s how to spot a fake Twitch viewer.

Look for Dodgy Profiles

Whether you plan to buy Twitch viewers or keep your channel clean, viewbots tend to have poor quality profiles. Basically, they’ll have random usernames, such as User324632, rather than john_starcraft25 or maryofthepurplerealm.

You get the point, it could be anything, but bots often feature alphanumeric elements. The more random the username, the more likely it is to be a bot.

Other than that, most people would put something in their profiles. Some of them will put pictures of themselves or perhaps their favorite characters. They’ll mention a few things in their bios as well or perhaps some interests, only to get the right suggestions from Twitch. Bots don’t do any of these.

Since they’re not real people, they don’t usually interact either, so they’ll have no follows or posts. Of course, you could also find real people matching these triggers. Not everyone wants to be public or exposed online. Some genuine users prefer privacy, so it’s wise not to jump to conclusions based on profiles alone.

Unusual Viewer/Follower Ratio

This is another aspect that can reveal viewbots. However, it won’t necessarily help you identify a bot or two in a crowd. Instead, this element showcases people who use large numbers of viewbots to inflate their numbers.

From this point of view, a high viewer count (such as 1,000 viewers) with a dead or quiet chat will be seen as a red flag. Twitch is about communities, so most people will say hello, ask a few things, make some suggestions, you name it. Even if you only have 100 viewers, you should still have some “human” chat.

On top of these, pay attention to the viewer/follower ratio too. Basically, if you barely have 100 followers, gaining 500 viewers over a short period of time might look sketchy. Unless you’re already popular or you do something viral, it’s less likely to happen.

Unnatural Patterns and Hikes

If you’ve ever watched a stream, you know how they work. People come and go. When a popular streamer comes online, followers slowly end up watching. They won’t be there forever too, as real life often interferes.

Now, when you look at your viewers, you’ll see that numbers also fluctuate. They go up and down, depending on more factors. However, if they stay perfectly flat for a long period of time, chances are you have some viewbots.

Viewing numbers are less likely to stay perfectly flat for long periods of time. Furthermore, they’re not meant to go up or drop in huge chunks either. You can’t have 1,000 viewers join within a minute, just like you can’t have them leave in a few seconds. It’s just not natural.

All these unusual things indicate bot activity. Being observant of these patterns will help you maintain authenticity.

Generic Messages & Chats

Dead chats or silent viewers are dodgy. But even when they actually talk, pay attention to what they say. Random stuff and no further replies indicate bot activity. Here are some triggers to look for:

• Repetitive chat words that don’t mean anything.
• Random emojis that don’t match your stream.
• Generic messages like “nice stream” or “wow” at the wrong possible moments.
• No further chats if you start a conversation.

Genuine viewers tend to comment on very specific elements, such as a nice kill, a game change, a new level and so on. If you’re the chatty type in others’ streams, simply put yourself in your potential viewers’ shoes. You’d only comment with a point, wouldn’t you?

Location Issues

Last, but not least, you can identify a potential bot by looking at the info. This could be tricky because it implies knowing your audience. For example, a Lithuanian streamer who only speaks Lithuanian will most likely have Lithuanian viewers. If your audience is mostly local, sudden international spikes should raise questions.

There are exceptions as well. If this streamer is extremely good at what they’re doing, they’ll have people watching even if they can’t understand the language. The gaming language is universal.

It’s hit and miss here. If most of your viewers come from a specific geographic location and a random viewer comes from a totally different area that’s out of your target, that viewer could be a bot from a farm. Bot farms often use IP addresses from various countries to appear legitimate.

In conclusion, spotting fake Twitch viewers isn’t that difficult after all. A few bots can be easily identified without too much headache, yet they’re less likely to cause any problems. On the other hand, identifying dozens or even hundreds of bots could be more challenging.

Keeping your channel safe implies becoming familiar with Twitch and spotting unnatural behaviors before anything else.