Live streaming has opened up all kinds of possibilities for people and creators to do what they love while making a living out of it. Unfortunately, this in turn has created a new set of problems, namely it has given another platform for trolls and people with malicious intent to act out.
Most recently, prominent female Hearthstone streamer Alexandra ‘Alliestrasza’ Macpherson was subject to such behavior where she was swatted during a live stream. For those unfamiliar, swatting is the process whereby police are called to a location under the impression that something serious is going on, like a hostage situation. The idea is that this will force police to come in full force, fully armed to the teeth.
Well I never thought I would get SWATTED… but alas, here we are.
Everything is okay, though. Just a little shaken up with nerves. The officers were great and handled everything very well.
They obviously had to take the threat seriously so our whole family was cuffed outside.
— Alliestrasza (@Alliestrasza) February 10, 2022
What happened to Macpherson was that about an hour halfway into her stream, a commotion could be heard in which she left the room. She then returned about 25 minutes later and said, “I’m gonna turn the stream off now, the very nice officers are in the house. They’re gonna take a crime report and take our IDs. Literally got swatted. I’m OK but, yeah… we were all handcuffed and everything. Everything’s fine, they’re very nice, I’m gonna leave and talk to you guys later, OK.”
She later posted on social media explaining why police showed up to her home. She said that it was because there was a threat that a woman had shot her husband and had locked herself in the bathroom, and then threatened to shoot anyone that came in. As a result, police were forced to take the threat seriously which is why they were handcuffed while they assessed the situation before letting them go.
Filed in . Read more about Blizzard, Hearthstone, Legal and Twitch. Source: pcgamer