The streamer Imane “Pokimane” Anys shared in her podcast that an employee of Twitch pretended to be her partner and lover to manipulate other female streamers. She took action against the man.
This is the situation: In a podcast on April 19, 2025, Pokimane talked about an incident that happened a few years ago (via YouTube). The incident occurred around the year 2019.
Already in March 2023, Pokimane hinted that someone she had worked with for years had faked a romantic relationship with her to manipulate other women.
Now, two years later, she speaks about the details: The man is a long-time and important employee of Twitch. He was supposed to ensure safety on Twitch, especially for women.
What kind of employee was he? Pokimane says the man worked as an engineer in Twitch’s “Security and Safety Department.” He helped streamers moderate their channels and was in contact with many female streamers, including Pokimane herself and her friends:
He was highly regarded and had built a good network – he was also one of my mods.
His duties primarily involved ensuring that communities were shut down that posted inappropriate things about female streamers. By that, Pokimane means things like deepfake sites.
Man faked relationship with Pokimane to hit on women
What did the man do? The Twitch employee had taken the normal professional conversations he had with Pokimane and edited them to make it seem like he was in a romantic relationship with her.
In a normal chat, he manipulated it so that it appeared as if Pokimane suddenly said, “Come to my hotel room.”
The man pursued women within Pokimane’s circle, befriended them, and then complained about how badly Pokimane treated him in the relationship:
Then he started talking about that fake relationship he and I had. He said that I was emotionally, romantically, and otherwise abusing him. He claimed that we would meet in hotels at TwitchCon.
The man also portrayed it as if Pokimane had said “very, very inappropriate things.” Pokimane clarifies: she never met the man – apparently, her management didn’t show her all the pictures and lies that the Twitch employee made up to protect himself.
How did Pokimane find out? The streamer says she only learned about what had really happened from her management when the man had already pretended to be her boyfriend for two years.
The women the man approached had gotten in touch with each other. Thus, the man’s lies were exposed and they informed Pokimane’s team.
Twitch employee wanted women to rescue him from Pokimane
What was his plan? The man seemingly wanted to gain sympathy in this way and trigger a protector reflex in the women by expressing how poorly Pokimane treated him.
He wanted to present himself as a victim so that the women would protect him from Pokimane. This was how he tried to get close to these women.
According to Pokimane, these were manipulative and emotionally blackmailing actions.
Man sent fake nude photos
This particularly shocked Pokimane: The Twitch employee responsible for deleting such deepfake sites sent fake photos of Pokimane to the women to make them send nude pictures of themselves.
Pokimane recounts this with visible and audible disgust. It is already psycho crap.
Additionally, he also disclosed her Twitch revenues.
This is how it affected Pokimane: The streamer said that this ruined her enjoyment of streaming on Twitch and damaged the safe space she had built. Because the victims of the man were women who looked up to Pokimane.
Pokimane had the Twitch employee fired
What did she do against the man? Pokimane says she reported the incident to Twitch. This initiated an investigation. In the meantime, she had to continue working with the man to avoid alarming him. This was difficult for her. She would have preferred to yell at and insult the man. Over and over again, she had to bite her tongue when he wrote something in a joint chat.
During that time, the man announced he was going to leave Twitch because he accepted a job at Riot. With the offer, the man boasted, as Pokimane states.
But when the Twitch investigation was completed, Pokimane called Riot and informed the LoL developers about the situation. After some time, she received a callback. Riot never offered the man a position.
Later, the man was fired, as Pokimane casually notes.
According to Pokimane, after the investigation was completed by Twitch, she told all affected women that the man’s messages had been manipulated and showed them the original messages. If the women were concerned for their safety, Pokimane would ensure their protection. They should come to “Mami come,” she would take care of it.
She had already checked, but legally there was nothing further she could do against the man.
Pokimane is particularly shocked that she always perceived the man as polite and respectful. She had never suspected that something was wrong with him. From her perspective, this makes the situation even worse, as she did not notice any warning signs that something was wrong with him.
Pokimane has a prominent role on Twitch. For a long time, she was the most successful streamer on the platform. Although she makes it a point to maintain distance from her fans, bizarre stories continue to circulate about her: Streamer believes he is secretly engaged to Twitch star Pokimane, spends €5,000 to meet her
