Russian Twitch streamer Kussia88 has been suspended from the platform after a clip emerged showing him directing his audience to harass another streamer’s viewers in real life at their schools.
The clip shows Kussia88 explicitly encouraging his fans to target and confront viewers of a rival streamer in offline settings. The instruction was delivered during a live broadcast and quickly circulated online after being mirrored and shared across social media.
Within hours of the clip spreading, Kussia88’s Twitch channel displayed a suspension notice. The platform has not publicly confirmed the reason for the ban or whether it is temporary or permanent.
Kussia88 has roughly 1.3 million followers on Twitch, making him one of the larger Russian-language creators on the platform.
After the clip surfaced, people took a closer look at the streamer’s history. Users compiled evidence alleging prior violations including organizing hate raids against smaller streamers with spam containing Nazi symbols and doxxing a minor during a stream. Multiple clips and screenshots were shared pointing to these alleged incidents.
The streamer’s username itself drew attention. The number “88” is commonly used by neo-Nazi groups as coded reference to “Heil Hitler” since H is the eighth letter of the alphabet. Users also pointed to clips allegedly showing Kussia88 watching content from Maxim Martsinkevich, a known Russian neo-Nazi figure, during his streams.
These additional allegations have not been independently verified but appear to be documented in archived clips and social media posts.
Twitch’s community guidelines explicitly prohibit harassment and hateful conduct. This includes inciting others to target individuals or groups both on and off platform. The rules also ban the promotion of extremist ideologies and symbols.
The platform has taken strong action against similar behavior in the past. In 2022, creator JiDion received a permanent ban after directing his viewers to conduct a hate raid against another streamer. Twitch also filed a lawsuit in 2021 targeting organized hate raids on the platform.
Russian creators on Twitch face unique circumstances following sanctions related to the war in Ukraine. While they can still stream, Twitch halted payments to users in Russia and Belarus. This means many Russian streamers continue to broadcast but cannot receive revenue through standard platform monetization.
The streamer targeted by Kussia88’s call to harassment has not been publicly identified. It remains unclear whether any real-world incidents occurred as a result of his on-stream instructions.
