Undoubtedly the largest live-streaming company in the world, Twitch has built a lucrative portfolio and reputation as a result of housing some of the biggest content creators in the internet era. 

The company has frequently been in a struggle with its creators over its often overly rigid terms of service, or the treatment of certain sects of creators. All of this consistent badgering is the kindling for a red hot fire of disaster. 

Twitch has also long gained the reputation as a company that is always in the hot seat, most recently over the treatment and harassment of female streamers surrounding the “Pools and Hot Tubs” section, or maybe the behaviors of more…..eccentric content creators like XQC. So it was only a matter of time before another controversy would strike the ever-relevant company. 

On October 6th, a message board post was made by an anonymous hacker claiming responsibility for a massive information leak at Twitch headquarters, according to multiple news sources. This leak detailed various tidbits of personal information regarding many content creators on the platform. Also included in these leaks, was a list detailing the earnings of the top 1,000 streamers. The list covers total payouts starting as early as August 2019 up through October 1st, 2021. 

As expected, this caused a social media storm. Many viewers were shocked at the information. The top five streamer names listed all had payouts of over $5 million. This money was earned through ad revenue, sponsorships, subscriptions, and other features of Twitch designed to give content creators payment. The average Twitch subscription costs about five dollars, to which the streamer receives 50 percent of the money gained, the other half going directly to Twitch. The earnings from sponsorships and donations can only be estimated, but it’s safe to assume that a bulk of the earnings weren’t even from corporate deals: they were from the viewers who donated money or subscribed. 

That said, the controversy that ensued directly revolved around the earnings of those streamers. Many are calling past mistakes or personalities into question, while also discussing if these content creators are really that valuable. Is the service they provide deserving of such a monetary reward? 

No matter how it is viewed, it’s important to consider everything at stake with the recent leaks coming to light. Valuable information breaches within large scale companies occur quite often. However, it’s especially troublesome when the personal information of valued corporate assets is involved. 

It will be interesting to see how Twitch handles this, and any other future meltdowns of this type. In present day media, controversy is hard to avoid, and Twitch is always on the hot seat for something. But they seem to do a decent job of at least keeping their platform under control. More events like this could prove this wrong, though.