View Bots on Kick: High View Count Raises Suspicions

Kick the new streaming platform has raised suspicions of view botting among a number of users. In a YouTube video, streamer CodyRiffs detailed his experience on the platform, saying he was impressed but also raising doubts about the number of viewers he had tuning in. Other users on Reddit have also raised similar suspicions due to high view counts but lack of interactivity. Kick investor Eddie Craven responded to CodyRiffs suspicions about view bots on Kick.

CodyRiffs doubts about Kick View Bots

YouTube streamer CodyRiffs made a video on 7th April about his experience using Kick. CodyRiffs states in the video, “I was immediately impressed by the amount of viewers I had right away on my first Kick stream”, but he was “less impressed” that the “viewer count on Kick doesn’t mean sh*t”. He continued that the whole site “reeks of viewbotting”, and he mentioned seeing streams being viewed by up to 3000 people and only seeing three people chatting. The streamer also said he set up a 5-hour countdown clock on the road to becoming an affiliate, which requires users to have 75 followers and stream for five hours.

When CodyRiffs brought up the concerns on Twitter, Kick investor Eddie Craven tweeted back to the streamer thanking him for the constructive feedback and talking about the concerns raised. Craven said, “Kick, according to well respected sites such as similarweb, had over 58 million visitors in March alone. Compared to only 3 million registered accounts. Majority of Kick's traffic is still unauthenticated and yet to create accounts. He mentioned that the streamer was at the top of the music category because of the “relatively low number of active streams Kick had compared to other websites.” Craven also invited CodyRiffs to message him and provide the streamer “a break down of viewers” and “some further analytics.” Cody also talked about new features coming to Kick, “On that note, we have a completely new analytics engine being released shortly, which will also include vital information such as viewer lists and trends over time alongside other statistics. We hope this adds the required level of transparency to avoid these types of situations.” 

Multiple users on Reddit have also raised similar suspicions of Kick using view bots. 

There is also code available on GitHub which lets you set up view bots for Kick, however, this phenomenon is not restricted to the new streaming platform. The issue of view botting has been plaguing the streaming community for quite a while now. Platforms like Twitch have been cracking down on viewbotting for years now with the platform also filing lawsuits against bot-makers. This is where Kick’s lack of moderation is seen as a cause of concern for many potential users. Kick advisor Trainwrecks had previously addressed Kick’s view botting problem.

In the meantime, the platform is also gaining notoriety for attracting controversial streamers like Adin Ross.