Dan Clancy, the CEO of Twitch, found himself in an awkward situation during a recent charity livestream when moderators timed him out for breaking one of streaming’s unwritten rules.
While raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as part of the GCX Marathon, Clancy decided to take an unusual approach to boost his viewer count. He personally visited the chat rooms of other live streamers and asked them to raid his channel when they finished their broadcasts.
His message was straightforward: “I, Dan Clancy, am shamelessly going into chat of streamers I know to ask for raids when they are done. I am doing my first charity stream for St Jude’s as part of the GCX Marathon. Not listening since I am streaming.”
The problem? Requesting raids in someone else’s chat is widely considered poor etiquette in the streaming community. It’s typically seen as self-promotion or an attempt to poach viewers—something that regular Twitch users might even get banned for.
At least one streamer’s moderation team wasn’t impressed by Clancy’s status. They issued the CEO a 10-minute timeout just seconds after he posted his request, effectively muting him in the channel.
Some viewers pointed out the uncomfortable power dynamic at play. “The main issue for me is that asking for raid in other people chat really isn’t very classy. But there is also the issue of him being the CEO of the platform they’re making a living on,” noted one comment.
Others suggested Clancy could have used his position more appropriately: “If he just put his stream on the front page and said Twitch were doing a charity event, that would be completely fine.”
Clancy’s stream reportedly averaged around 688 viewers, leading some to question why the CEO felt the need to directly solicit raids rather than using official Twitch promotion tools.
Since taking the CEO role, Clancy has made efforts to be more visible on the platform and at community events. This all comes up amid ongoing conversations about Twitch’s leadership, monetization policies, and competition with platforms like YouTube and Kick.
