xQc loses 2 million Twitch followers as platform clamps down on bots

The biggest streamer on Twitch, xQc, is the first major figure to be hit by an onslaught of lost followers now that the platform is taking action against a frenzy of viewer and follower bots.

Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel’s rise to Twitch preeminence has taken its turns and twists. From retiring from the Overwatch League to being banned from GTA Online’s NoPixel RP server, xQc’s footing among the top streamers has always been on ground as rocky as his chaotic streams can be.

Now, a new issue besets xQc’s throne: a plague of viewer and follower bots that have disrupted the legitimacy of Twitch’s streaming statistics. A week after being crowned the most-watched streamer thus far in 2021, the platform’s actions against bots have dented xQc’s numbers.

As Twitch announces that they are clamping down on over 7 million bots that were found to be artificially boosting account numbers, xQc is the first major figure who seems to have been impacted. According to multiple Twitch tracking websites, the Canadian streamer appears to have lost a whopping 2-plus million followers over the past several days.

As shown in a screenshot from TwitchTracker, 2.2 million xQc followers seem to have vanished over the past week. These numbers coincide directly with the data being reported by similar tracking websites like SullyGnome and SocialBlade, while coinciding with a similar drop according to his channel’s official Twitch page.

While he was recently seen with around 8 million Twitch followers, the website now indicates that he is down to about 5.5 million — reflecting the over 2 million drop seen on the various tracking websites.

• Read more: Twitch takes action after 7.5M bots boost streamer followers & views

With Twitch detecting and taking action against viewer and follower bots as of April 14, the number of xQc followers have taken a massive hit.

Streaming on the same day, xQc corroborated that he had lost around 2 million followers. But, as most would likely agree that subscribers matter much more, he told his chat “the followers mean nothing to me”

As Twitch’s official Twitter support account indicates, the platform has identified over 7.5 million bots that “break our TOS [terms of service] by follow-botting and view-botting.” The website then continued on to warn streamers that “you may see sudden decreases in your follower and viewer count over the coming days.”

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That information seems more closely linked to the surprising downturn in xQc’s statistics than his ban from the GTA RP server, despite that content’s popularity.

Since Twitch suggests more enforcement will be coming, it will be an interesting situation to monitor as xQc and other high-profile streamers have their numbers authenticated.