Twitch Streamer SquidGame has been suffering from online abuse for sharing a handle with the popular Netflix show of the same name. It now transpires that it is also affecting her job opportunities.
A Twitch streamer, who goes by the name SquidGame, is suffering from online abuse for sharing a handle with the popular Netflix show of the same name. She has also been losing work as a result of this unfortunate association. Hear is what we know so far.
Who Is SquidGame?
Earlier today the BBC published an article in which they reported that a Twitch streamer has been suffering for using a handle that is similar to the popular Netflix show Squid Game.
The streamer in question Lydia Ellery, has gone by the name Squid Game on social media for over a decade; apart from her twitter handle being SquidGaming. She has around 43,500 followers on Twitch and 29,400 subscribers on YouTube at the time of writing this. She is also a member of the popular YouTube group Yogscast, who have over 7 million subscribers.
“For me it was just a silly name I came up with on the spot,” she told the BBC regarding the origins of her handle. “My friends called me Squid because it rhymes with lid, and my name is Lydia.”
Streamer suffers online abuse due to Netflix show
Since the release of the hit new Korean drama show on Netflix, Lydia has been the target of constant online abuse. Her Instagram account has seemingly taken the brunt of the abuse, having received millions of threats from people. It also has also been the subject of several hacking attempts. At one point her account had been banned by Instagram after several fans of the show complained that she had stolen the name on the site from the show.
“Because the show doesn’t have an official Instagram account, I was flooded with people tagging me or sending me messages thinking I was the show,” she said in the BBC article. And as she would later explain, these messages were far from friendly. “I started getting abusive messages from people. People were getting angry with me because they were mega fans and thought I took the name from the account.”
This horrible misunderstanding was brought about due to the fact that Netflix have been advertising the show on their own social media and not on a separate one.
SquidGame losing work over her name
Aside from streaming on Twitch, Lydia also does a slew of advertising and presenting work. Now however, due to the unfortunate connection to the Korean drama, Lydia revealed that companies are now hesitant to work with her due to her online handle.
Things have gotten so bad for Lydia as result of the constant abuse and lack of work opportunities, that she has been considering changing her name; a brand which she has built up over a decade of being a content creator.
“My SEO is completely messed up now,” she said. “If you search for me and my brand which I’ve had for over 10 years all you get is the TV show. More recently I have been turned down for work because of my handle.”
This unfortunately is becoming the most likely outcome for Lydia as a result of the Netflix show’s immense popularity. Despite having built up her brand for over a decade it would seem that the social media mob is not showing signs of stopping.
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