A drag queen Twitch streamer who was targeted in a recent uptick in swatting says the livestreaming service needs to protect users' privacy

• Las Vegas-based drag queen Elix streams on her Twitch account, which has 57,000 followers.
• At least six drag queens, including Elix, have been the target of swatting over the last two months.

Las Vegas-based drag queen Elix was playing video games on November 9, on a livestream broadcast to her 57,000 Twitch followers, when trolls began spamming the chat with her legal name, address, and physical threats. Minutes later, she heard police outside her residence asking her to step outside with her hands up.

Elix was experiencing a swatting, a federal crime where an individual or group of people call the police on an innocent person and falsely claim they are an active shooter, kidnapper, or another type of hostile criminal. The practice is frequently used against livestreamers so the person calling the police can see them respond in real-time as the target is streaming.

Six members of Stream Queens, a drag queen and makeup streaming partnership that includes Elix, have been swatted in the last two months, according to Elix.

"A lot of people they don't speak when they are swatted. A lot. I'm not the only queen this has happened to," Elix said. "We're not even huge streamers. Like we just go on there we mind our business, we make people happy, and people are attacking us for that."

The day before the incident, Elix was playing one of her favorite games, Dead by Daylight, when she experienced a cyberattack that exposed her IP address, removed her from the game, and disrupted her internet service.

Despite purchasing a new router the next day and downloading a VPN, an unknown individual had already called local law enforcement and falsely claimed that Elix slit her brother's throat in the basement of her house and was going to kill herself, Elix told Insider.

About three hours into a gaming livestream on November 9, Elix's chat log was bombarded with trolls disseminating her personal information in the chat. Minutes later, her phone began to light up with calls and she could hear police stating her legal name on a loudspeaker outside.

Elix said that she slowly exited her residence and approached a pack of armed Las Vegas Police Department officers. They admitted they were skeptical about the legitimacy of the call because most homes in the area do not have basements, according to Elix.

Still, the officers handcuffed her and searched her home.

Swatting perpetrators use Twitch tags to target LGBT streamers

Three years earlier, Elix filed a report to warn LVPD that she thought she could be a swatting target when a YouTuber launched a harassment campaign against her. She said that the YouTuber went through Twitch's LGBT tag during a livestream, located Elix's profile, and began to cyberstalk her and send bomb threats to her previous workplace.

"I was heavily embarrassed. I was full of rage. I'm still dealing with the rage and trying to funnel it into something positive because I don't know who did this to me. I don't know. I know these people will never be held accountable because it never happened in 2018," Elix told Insider.

After she was handcuffed, LVPD officers placed a call to their department to inquire about Elix's file from 2018 and made sure to update it with details of the latest incident before releasing her. Elix, still in shock, said she decided to continue with her stream.

"When I immigrated to this country [from Mexico] and I didn't speak the language, there were a lot of people that would tell me you need to go back to your country, you don't belong here," Elix told Insider. "All my life, people have tried to push me out of what I love but that only motivates me."

Victims of swatting struggle to get justice

While she does not expect any of the individuals who have harassed her to be held accountable, Elix said that livestreaming platforms need to do a better job of helping their users protect their identities and privacy. Other users who have been swatted warned Elix against pursuing legal recourse, stating that she would waste her money and see no results.

"I think these platforms need to make it easier to work with local law enforcement. I believe that if Twitch has a log of someone saying, 'I'm going to go kill you,' or someone is posting your legal address, don't make the local law enforcement in that jurisdiction have to file a subpoena," Elix said.

Additionally, Elix said she thinks livestreaming platforms like Twitch should offer resource pages to streamers with tips on how to protect their identity and privacy, as well as guides on what to do after being doxxed or swatted.

"It's happening more and more often now, especially within the LGBTQIA+ umbrella. I wish Twitch spoke on it, so the silence is disappointing," Elix said. "I'm going to be as loud as I can and let people know this is still happening and lives are in danger."

Insider has reached out to Twitch and LVPD for comment.