Streaming on Twitch can turn into an incredibly lucrative career. When you attract an audience and start to grow as a creator, you’re able to take advantage of Twitch’s partner program. You’ll begin earning money from views and may even attract sponsors if your content is right for them. However, there is a darker side to becoming a big Twitch streamer. For example, people might hack your data and share it online for others to view and ruin your privacy. In this guide, we’ll cover some tips and tricks for how to not get doxxed on Twitch.
The key to avoiding being doxxed on Twitch is to keep your personal life separate from your streaming life. Keep your social media account personal, but don’t post details such as pictures of your house, contact details, or even pictures of you in your local area. You should also use encrypted password protectors and have a separate password for every single online account you have.
What is Doxxing?
Doxxing is the act of someone stealing or identifying personal information about you that you don’t want them to. Most of the time, that information is then shared, which leads to more people doxxing you and sharing your details. However, it doesn’t matter if the information is shared. You will still have had your information stolen. If you’re worried, you can track what details have been shared about you online through major data brokers such as Nuwber.
What follows are our key tips for hot to not get doxxed on Twitch.
Use an Encrypted Password Program
Most of us have a few passwords that we use for all of our accounts. It’s because we can’t physically retain a new password for every account and website. However, this makes it easier for a hacker to steal personal information from you.
To avoid this, use an encrypted password program. There are so many of them out there. For a small monthly fee, they’ll store all of your passwords. You can even use them to suggest complex passwords for every online account. Since the program stores them, there’s no need to remember them yourself.
Keep Social Media Professional
Every streamer wants to connect with their fans, but hackers can easily track your address if you share too many details about your life on social media like Twitter. You may not even realize that you’re sharing your personal data, so we’ve put together a list of ways that you might do this without thinking about it.
- Selfies – Any pictures of your house or local area will give away your location. Images also have geodata, making them easy to track for those who know how.
- Screen shares – Sometimes, these can accidentally include your address, phone number, email address, and any number of other details. You could even give out your IP address.
- Pictures of others – Once again, details in the background can give away your location. Any people in the pictures will also make them a potential target of doxxing.
Don’t Reveal Personal Information on a Stream
Chatting with those watching your stream is part of what makes a great Twitch streamer. It’s the reason that streamers are so much fun to watch. However, if you accidentally reveal some personal information, someone can clip it and save it forever. Saying anything personal on a stream means that it will potentially be saved and downloaded forever. You must be so careful when talking with your viewers.
The easiest way to avoid revealing personal data is to set some clear boundaries. Most viewers won’t care about this. The things you should insist that you won’t talk about are as follows.
- Family
- Friends
- Address
- Sensitive Personal History
- Pictures
It’s impossible to edit a stream. By the time you’ve said something, it’s already live. The only way to avoid being doxxed is to think about what you’re saying and keep track of the personal details you give out. Otherwise, you might be in for a nasty shock.
Conclusion
Doxxing can be as harmless as a fan sending you a present in the mail. However, doxxing ends in brutal incidents such as having a streamer raided by the police more often than not. Try your hardest to avoid giving out any personal details, and you should be able to avoid getting doxxed with ease.
We’ve also found a video that gets right to the crux of what this trend is. Check it out below.
