Trainwreckstv, xQc, Viewbotting and Platforms’ Blind Eye
Streamers Trainwreckstv and xQc are talking about the viewbotting “scandal”, if you can call it a scandal, really.
Trainwreckstv and xQc are two of the platform’s loudest voices on fraud and platform transparency.
He recently pushed the conversation about viewbotting back into the headlines, arguing that sophisticated bot operations are now expensive and evasive and that platforms have little incentive to root them out.
In a post on X and subsequent interviews he argued that “there are only 2 consistent ways to catch a botter in 2025” — either via platform backend access or through sponsor/backend audit data — underscoring how opaque detection really is.
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Trainwreck: Viewbotting is too advanced
Based on my understanding of what can be seen on the backend of Kick, Kick can see exactly who is botting/being botted, some are victims of botting harassment and aren’t to be blamed, however, most, are botting and hiding behind that same plausible deniability; because of this,…
— Trainwreck (@Trainwreckstv) August 29, 2025
xQc shows dip in his viewership
Only a week ago, xQc showed part of his own statistics on Twitch. Having lost about 50% of viewers seemed to be a big surprise for him. I call “interesting” a euphemism here.
Twitch has cracked down on bots in the 2-3 days and viewbotters/victims of viewbotting have been exposed. Streamers that are part of groups/orgs are seemingly being botted much more heavily. I don’t want to start witch hunts but the data is interesting. Go see for yourself pic.twitter.com/qoAvMBIhOY
— xQc (@xQc) August 23, 2025
Reddit’s verdict: “If it makes money, people will do it”
Community responses on Reddit ran from skeptical to conspiratorial. A typical comment captured the theme:
“View-botting to 50k viewers makes people tune in…View botting acts like a starter motor.”
Another blunt response: “As long as view-botting makes money, streamers will do it.”
These reactions show community acceptance that bots are a practical (if unethical) growth hack — especially when the payout from ads, sponsors and new viewers outweighs the bot costs.
Why viewbotting is so hard to police
- Detection requires internal telemetry. Public-facing metrics (concurrent viewers, chat activity) can be spoofed; platforms withhold backend logs and ad/sponsor telemetry that would prove a bot farm. Trainwreck’s point — that consistent detection relies on backend access — is echoed across the moderation debate.
- Monetary incentives for platforms. Bots inflate traffic numbers, which in turn can be used for headlines, retention metrics and to justify ad inventory — even if platforms don’t monetise bot views directly, the engagement numbers feed the broader ecosystem. Reddit commenters have noted this “open secret.”
- Sophisticated botnets and laundering tricks. According to Trainwreck and several analysts, some bot operations now use distributed cloud infrastructure and proxy strategies that make automated detection and IP-based blocklists less effective.
What would actually curb the problem?
- Transparency from platforms: release anonymised backend audit data to independent investigators. Trainwreck argues this is crucial.
- Third-party audits on sponsorships/ads: sponsors demanding verification could remove the revenue motive.
- Cross-platform cooperation to identify coordinated botnets across cloud providers and streaming services.
Will Viewbotting continue?
Trainwreckstv’s warnings and the Reddit reaction make one thing clear. Viewbotting persists because it works.
Dishonest streamers, opportunistic middlemen, and, to a lesser extent, platforms that benefit from raw traffic will make sure of that.
Unless sponsors, platforms and the community start demanding transparency, the “starter motor” will keep getting used.
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