Thus, the internet brings out the pitchforks, and everything takes its course:
A son hits his mother in front of a laughing audience. He kills his cat. We are watching.
A cat is killed live on Discord by a teenager and held up to the camera. The German Twitch streamer MontanaBlack sees this clip and makes it public. Recorded videos of the incident end up on Twitter, trending under the harmless hashtag #Katze and are spread further. MeinMMO editor-in-chief Leya Jankowski wonders: How can this happen?
08000 116 016. The helpline “Violence against Men” can be reached at 0800 1239900.
Here you will find the general telephone counseling
A son hits his mother in front of a laughing audience in the Discord stream. This son later kills a cat. He holds its corpse up to the camera and mutilates the dead animal. Footage from the streams ends up on Twitter and is seen by thousands.
I come across the clips because the term “#Katze” appears in my Twitter trends. I suspect something cute and think I will see some sweet cat pictures.
However, after I follow the link, my stomach tightens. Thousands on Twitter feel the same way. The clips are still visible.
The sequence of events is bizarre: Twitch and MontanaBlack play a role
When I think about what has happened here in a very short time, my stomach tightens even more. More than a dried-up raisin that causes an uncomfortable feeling is no longer to be found.
- On November 15, the clips from the Discord stream appear on Twitter
- MontanaBlack, one of the largest German Twitch streamers, shares the clip and expresses his anger about it
- The clips then go viral on Twitter
- Another Twitch streamer does a live interview with the teenager about the incidents, where the boy appears visibly out of sorts. Clips from this also go viral.
- The teenager’s name, address, and contact details are leaked on the Discord server where he hosted the streams
- A mob forms online
- The boy streams live on Twitch and “thanks” MontanaBlack. It is clear from the stream that authorities such as the police and lawyers seem to have gotten involved. At least that’s what his mother is yelling at him. Legal consequences could be looming. Parts of the internet celebrate this.
This is the current state of events that have unfolded in the last three days.
At this point, it should be said that we are deliberately not sharing any clips of the incidents. We keep the boy and his family anonymous. However, if you use corresponding search terms on Google and Twitter, you will find it quickly.
I personally have not watched the clip with the cat – even though I should have done so from a journalistic perspective. But I can’t and don’t want to. However, I have had it confirmed by people who have seen the clip that it exists and that it is shocking.
Many people have started to issue warnings on Twitter about the clips. Similarly, many flood Twitter with actual cat pictures to push the disgusting clips as far down as possible.
How can all of this actually happen?
At the end of the day, the events trigger an emptiness in me, similar to what I felt during the incidents surrounding Drachenlord:
YouTuber Drachenlord must serve 2 years in prison – haters praise “the season finale of the show”
I requested a statement from Discord, which I will include here should they wish to comment on it. The live streams on Discord function differently than on Twitch.
Discord is mainly used online for chats, voice conferences, and video conferences. You can create channels there and meet people. Originally, Discord was primarily used in gaming for communication and networking. However, Discord has grown larger, and at some point, a streaming feature was integrated.
To watch a live stream on Discord, you must already be part of a channel. If the clips had not ended up on Twitter, they would have had no chance of going viral.
This would be comparable to if something like this happened in a “Microsoft Teams” conference, and someone made a recording to later post it on the internet.
An important factor here is that a streamer of MontanaBlack’s size shared and reacted to the clips. This type of “reaction content” is quick and easy to make, often comes with a lot of reach. If this reaction had not happened, the clip might never have gone viral.
The boy seems to still be a minor.
How can all of this actually be? Once again, it shows that the internet is still wild and allows things that actually should not happen. There are also always gruesome incidents on Twitch in front of a live audience.
Imagine if something like this had happened on live television. It would be a huge scandal that would run through all media, and the corresponding channels would be held accountable.
Thus, the internet brings out the pitchforks, and everything takes its course:
A son hits his mother in front of a laughing audience. He kills his cat. We are watching.
