‘Hello, this is Martha’: Interaction dynamics of live scambaiting on Twitch

Abstract

The growth of the Internet has seen the emergence of elaborate examples of cybercrime in the form of ‘scams’. Alongside this, a resistance has also developed, with ‘scambaiters’ engaging in complex and deceptive scenarios to waste scammers’ time and educate others about online scams. This has been facilitated by the evolution of new media platforms inclusive of the live stream video-sharing site Twitch, where scambaiters take part in interactions with scammers in real time in front of large audiences. Such platforms present significant potential for diverse interaction and participation roles that move beyond those of other sites and audiovisual media. Scambaiting texts thus present a valuable opportunity to explore the complex interactive affordances of live stream video-sharing platforms. In this article, we aim to map an interactional framework for live-streamed video-sharing platforms by analysing a scambait call by the scambaiter ‘Kitboga’ on Twitch. The results show that the platform of Twitch and the novel context of a live-streamed scambait call offer new insights into online interaction within the context of emerging digital genres.