Trans Twitch Streamer Keffals is Still Being Swatted

Swatting is when someone calls the police and accuses a random person of a crime with the intention of having cops bust in on an unsuspecting victim. It’s harassment in the guise of a prank call, and in the worst cases, this has resulted in people being arrested or even killed. And in the case of trans Canadian Twitch streamer Clara “Keffals” Sorrenti, it’s just part of an ongoing harassment campaign targeting her.

To recap, Keffals, a noted political commentator and trans rights activist, has been subject to multiple attacks during her time on Twitch, including doxing and swatting. Things escalated with a swatting incident on August 5 where police arrested her, stuck a gun in her face, and repeatedly used her deadname (her pre-transition birth name). Following that, Keffals and her fiance relocated to a hotel to stay safe, but in a new update this week, she revealed that she has been subjected to more attacks since then.

Among these, she revealed that her harassers had figured out where she was and sent pizzas to her hotel, ordering them under her deadname. They had discovered her location by looking at a photo of her cat on her bed and “cross-referencing them with every hotel in my city until they found a match.” These are just a few examples of the attacks that have been directed at her by members of Kiwi Farms, a forum particularly known for hate speech and targeted harassment.

And they haven't only targeted Keffals. According to the press kit detailing the attacks against her, friends and family have been doxed, an unrelated C. Sorrenti living in Toronto was swatted, and a Texas-based graphic artist that works for her was the target of an attempted swatting. It appears that anyone with a connection to Keffals, or anyone who could be mistaken as having a connection, could be at risk of harassment.

For the time being, Keffals is taking extra measures to maintain privacy and safety. These include “living in Airbnbs that have been rented by a third party” so she doesn’t have to give out her name, planning to change locations every week, and using a VPN to hide her IP address. As for her Twitch streaming, she says she’ll use a portable setup she can fit in a backpack as well as a green screen, that way no one can track her location through her streams.

Given how intensely Keffals specifically is being targeted, it’s hard not to see the transphobia in the harassment being directed at her. But rather than back down, she is doubling down on her activism, raising money for legal needs, and calling on people to spread the word about Kiwi Farm’s attacks. Considering how many members of the LGBTQIA+ community face similar harassment and threats to their lives, it’s important that cruel behavior like this is called out, especially in a time when powerful people are spreading anti-trans rhetoric, not just internet trolls.

Twitch Streamer Hasan Gets Surprise PO Box Gift

Twitch streamer Hasan "HasanAbi" Piker was more than a little surprised when he recently opened a package that had been sitting in one of his PO boxes for several months. The man who has long been one of Twitch's top streamers did a surprise unboxing of a gift he received that was actually tied back to one of the more significant controversies surrounding the platform.

Of course, HasanAbi is no stranger to controversy when it comes to Twitch. The streamer has long been one of the most influential voices on the site when discussing political issues in the United States and worldwide. That's led to him becoming quite popular in some circles and being quite disliked in others. His experiences might have given him a unique perspective on the controversy his recently unboxed gift reminded viewers about.

When Piker first unboxed the item and revealed he'd received a gift set from Valkyrae Hofstetter's controversial RFLCT skincare brand, he seemed momentarily speechless. In fact, even before he opened the package, Piker admitted he thought he might know what was in it and was a bit reticent to see what was inside.

When he pulled out the gift box, he joked that it was "officially a collectible" because RFLCT was now defunct. HasanAbi also pointed out he'd received the package back in October but never got around to opening it until now.

The recently revealed gift certainly holds quite a bit of history regarding the Twitch platform and several personalities on it. Valkyrae came under quite a bit of fire from several of her fellow streamers after becoming an official spokesman for RFLCT when the product was subsequently revealed to have made misleading statements. However, HasanAbi has also stepped in to support Valkyrae in recent months, saying RLFCT likely misled her just like everyone else.

Piker has received death threats in the not-so-distant past because of his public views on political issues affecting the country and the globe. That doesn't always mean that the streamer is likely to come to the defense of other personalities that get caught up in these kinds of issues. Still, in this particular scenario, it appears he believes Valkyrae is also a bit of a victim. While he clearly isn't a fan of the skincare line or what it represents, there's little doubt that HasanAbi is one of the few Twitch streamers who are well suited to talk about the double-edged sword that notoriety on the platform can be.