An eSports player proudly boasted about his rank in League of Legends, but he is said to have cheated. What role Twitch played in this, and what Riot’s personal watchdog has to say about it, you can find out at MeinMMO.
Who is the pro? The perpetrator is Ronaldo “Ronaldo” Betea, not to be confused with the Twitch streamer StableRonaldo, or the Portuguese football star. The Romanian LoL player is currently a mid-laner at Bulldog Esports.
On July 29, 2026, the player proudly announced on X that he reached Rank 1 in SoloQ on EUW. However, the joy was short-lived as he is said to have used unfair methods.
Streamers hate this trick
What did he do? The allegation against Ronaldo is “stream sniping.” This generally refers to viewers hunting a streamer in the game they are currently showing. This can range from rather harmless trolling to serious griefing.
It gets particularly nasty when one gains an advantage in competitive games like LoL by following the opponent’s stream in parallel. That is exactly what Ronaldo is said to have done. In LoL, this could mean banning the opponents’ preferred picks or acquiring information about where the opponents are located in the match.
How does stream sniping work?
Basically, there are two types to distinguish. In one case, viewers deliberately access the streamer’s game – for example, by starting the queue exactly at the same time as the streamer or playing in the same realm or server in an MMORPG. In the other case, one deliberately seeks out the stream of the opponent.
What do stream snipers do exactly?
The mission is usually to annoy streamers and gain attention. This can be a harmless monkey theater, but also a targeted hunt for streamers that they keep killing. But even outside of games, streamers are not safe, as stream snipers also appear in IRL streams, and that can have serious consequences.
What can streamers do?
Many streamers have now established systems to make it at least somewhat more difficult for stream snipers.
- Hide queue screen: thus it remains open when exactly the button is pressed
- Streamer mode: is now standard in many online games and prevents, for example, player names or lobby codes from being visible
- Stream with delay: With a delay, the information can no longer be used in real-time. In the game or even in an IRL stream, the streamer is then already long gone when the snipers appear.
This was the episode: Ronaldo likely did the math without Drew Levin. He is responsible for Product and Strategy at Riot, but has made a name for himself as the “Community Sheriff” due to his activity on X. When someone boasts about their supposed performance, Levin is often not far behind. Additionally, users can also report to him with evidence or tag him in suspicious posts. However, Levin is not satisfied with just punishing the offenders behind the scenes.
So he posted on July 31 on X that an investigation into Ronaldo’s case had revealed repeated violations of the stream sniping guidelines. As a result, Ronaldo is now banned for 2 weeks. Additionally, he will not receive Ranked Rewards for the recently concluded season. Moreover, his LP will be reset to the rank Master 0.
In conclusion, he admonishes the streamer: “Although many of your results are legitimate, your abuse of stream sniping for an advantage tarnishes your climb, and we will not allow that. We encourage you to play honorably in the future.”
What do you think of Levin’s reaction? Do you think cheaters should be publicly shamed, or would a quiet ban have been enough?
Trymacs had strong words for the stream snipers during his tour: Stream snipers lurk around Trymacs’ tour, triggering police operations – “Generation TikTok knows no bounds”
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