What is viewbotting? Decoding one of livestreaming's major challenges

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In 2025, viewbotting has become a crucial topic to discuss in the world of livestreaming, which has grown rapidly since its pandemic-era boom. With content creators making millions from a profession once considered risky and unconventional, many people are trying to use any means necessary, including viewbotting, to make it big in a cut-throat world.

What is viewbotting?

Viewbotting is a sophisticated form of digital fraud that significantly impacts streamers, platforms, and advertisers. In essence, it is a fraudulent practice of using automated software scripts, known as "viewbots," to artificially inflate the live viewer count (concurrent viewers, or CCV) of a stream or video.

These bots are designed to mimic the behavior of real users, repeatedly connecting to the stream to boost its perceived popularity, thereby manipulating platform algorithms and misleading both genuine viewers and potential sponsors.

Why do people use viewbots?

The motivation behind viewbotting is almost always a desire for rapid, artificial growth and the benefits that come with it:

• Increased discoverability. Livestreaming platforms like Twitch and Kick often prioritize streams with higher concurrent viewers in their category listings and recommendation algorithms. By inflating the CCV, the streamer  is pushed higher up, increasing their chances of being seen by real viewers.
• Attracting sponsorships/revenue. A higher viewer count is a key metric for negotiating brand deals and sponsorships. Viewbotting allows a creator to present a false audience size to advertisers, securing more lucrative deals or meeting partner requirements.
• Appearing successful. The illusion of popularity can create a self-fulfilling prophecy, making the channel seem more engaging and thus drawing in organic viewers ("success attracts success").
• Meeting platform requirements. Some platforms require a minimum CCV or follower count to qualify for monetization programs (like the Twitch Affiliate or Partner program).

Impact of viewbottng on ecosystem and streamer analytics

Viewbotting fundamentally corrupts the integrity of the entire livestreaming ecosystem in many ways. One of the most problematic challenges it poses is the distortion of key metrics, with the most immediate impact being the pollution of performance data.

For example, bots artificially inflate the concurrent viewers metric, often with sudden, rapid spikes, and a big red flag is a high CCV with disproportionately low chat/engagement. Moreover, millions of fake Hours Watched (HW) can be generated in a single quarter, and a good way to point this out is if the total fake HW can rival the watch time of major TV shows.

Bots also often don't chat or use vague, repetitive chat commands. A low chatter-to-CCV ratio (e.g., one chatter for every 500 viewers) strongly suggests botting, as an organic ratio is typically much higher. Lastly, bots can be programmed to watch the entire stream. To catch this, watch out for suspiciously linear or perfectly stable growth and retention patterns, which are unlike the natural join/leave flow of a real audience.

  Viewbotting can affect multiple parties within the streaming ecosystem (Image via ClickGuard) 

Another challenge is that viewbotting is a form of ad fraud that can harm advertisers and brands. Advertisers pay based on the impressions (views) and reach that a streamer generates. When those views are bots, brands lose money on ads shown to non-human, non-consuming traffic.

There is also the worry of distorted return on investment (ROI). Campaign results (like Click-Through Rate or Conversion Rate) are rendered unreliable, making it difficult for brands to measure a channel's effectiveness accurately.

Viewbotting also damages the creator economy, as honest streamers struggle to compete for discoverability and sponsorship dollars against channels that have fraudulently inflated their metrics. This devalues the hard work of the community.

There is also the reputational risk that comes with carrying out this practice. When a content creator is exposed for using viewbots, they suffer severe loss of credibility and trust from both their real audience and potential business partners.

Platform response and consequences

Livestreaming services are in a constant "cat-and-mouse game" with bot operators, who continuously update their scripts to evade detection.

Detection and enforcement

Platforms like Twitch and Kick invest heavily in sophisticated systems:

• Machine learning (ML) algorithms: These systems are trained to detect unnatural viewing patterns, IP clustering, and non-organic temporal dynamics (like sudden, unexplainable spikes).
• Mass purges: Occasionally, platforms will execute massive, site-wide crackdowns, which result in thousands of streamers across all tiers seeing sharp, immediate drops in their CCV (sometimes up to 20 to 40% reduction for the entire platform).
• Legal action: In the past, Twitch has pursued legal action against viewbot service providers.

Penalties for streamers

Viewbotting is a direct violation of a platform's Terms of Service (TOS) and can result in severe action:

• View count suppression. The platform may simply stop counting the fraudulent views.
• Demonetization. The streamer may be removed from the Partner or Affiliate program, losing all ad revenue.
• Temporary suspension. A channel may be suspended for a set period.
• Permanent ban. Repeat or severe offenders face permanent account termination.

Malicious viewbotting (viewbot attack)

The primary goal of a malicious viewbot attack is not to help the streamer but to sabotage their channel and reputation. The perpetrator is usually a rival streamer, a disgruntled former viewer, an organized troll, or someone who simply wishes to see the streamer fail.

In terms of execution, the attacker purchases or deploys a viewbot service and directs the bots to the target streamer's channel. The bots mimic fake viewers and rapidly inflate the concurrent viewer count (CCV), often by hundreds or thousands.

The attacker seeks to trigger two potential outcomes:

• Platform penalty. They hope the streaming platform's automated systems will detect the fraudulent traffic and punish the streamer with a temporary suspension or a ban, mistaking the victim for the perpetrator.
• Reputation damage. The sudden, suspicious spike in viewers, often paired with low chat engagement, makes it immediately obvious to the public that the channel has fake viewers.4 This severely damages the streamer's credibility, making them look like a fraud to legitimate viewers and potential sponsors.

Why are viewbot attacks difficult to combat?

Platforms like Twitch have robust systems to detect fraudulent traffic, but it's much harder to determine the intent of the person operating the stream.

  Many prominent streamers on services like Twitch and Kick have faced the viewbot attack problem (Image via SpiderAF)   

Because the botting is coming from an external source, the victim streamer can truthfully state they didn't initiate the activity. The attacker also knows the appearance of bots is harmful, so they deploy them specifically to create the visual and statistical red flags that the platform looks for (e.g., a CCV of 5,000 with only five chatters).

What streamers can do if attacked

If a streamer suddenly notices a massive, unprovoked spike in their viewer count, they should take the following steps:

1. Stay calm and acknowledge. Do not panic or overreact. Calmly inform the real audience that the channel appears to be under a viewbot attack. This transparency helps maintain trust.
2. Document and report. Immediately document the time, date, and magnitude of the attack (screenshots of the inflated CCV, the chat log, etc.). Report the incident to the platform's support team with all available evidence, making it clear that the botting was external and unwanted.
3. Preventive measures. Some streamers may temporarily change their stream title or category (as bot services often target specific categories) or briefly restart their stream to break the bot connection.
4. Use moderation tools. Implement strong chat verification settings, such as forcing chatters to have verified emails or phone numbers, and use third-party bot-blocking tools to remove known bot accounts.

While viewbot attacks are malicious, platforms are generally unlikely to ban a streamer who has been clearly targeted, especially if they have immediately reported the incident. The key is to manage the situation transparently and prevent the fraudulent activity from being counted as legitimate traffic.

In summary, viewbotting is a pervasive and financially damaging form of fraud that undermines the trust necessary for a healthy creator economy. The continuous effort by platforms and third-party analytics firms to combat it is essential for protecting advertisers, rewarding legitimate creators, and ensuring transparent metrics for the future of digital content.