Getting high viewer counts on Twitch.tv livestreams is not easy. Some already well known brands or personalities, such as the recently launched Geek & Sundry channel, have the advantage of a built in audience that starts watching right from the beginning, but for unknown users creating an account for the first time, it can be an uphill battle.

There are many advantages to high viewer counts, not the least of which is the possibility of earning money through subscriptions, donations, or ad revenue, and this is exactly why a recent report from Symantec Corp on view-padding bots spells bad news for Twitch.

Several illicit services give Twitch streamers the ability to effectively buy viewers in the form of botnets running on compromised computers, which then artificially inflate the streamers view count. According to Symantec, many of the fake views are generated from computers unknowingly infected with Trojan viruses such as Trojan.Inflabot, which apparently disguises itself as a Chrome or Adobe software update.

“For one botnet service, the seller claims that each ‘victim’ on the botnet can view five streams on broadcasters’ Twitch channels,” Symantec’s report says. “The affected computer is seemingly forced to open the Twitch channel streams, though the streams are hidden and muted so that the computer’s owner is unaware that anything is amiss.”

Because the bots themselves are not clicking on ads, they do not directly earn revenue for the streamer, but they can be used to pass certain thresholds that allow users to take part in Twitch’s partnership program, which requires a minimum of 500 average concurrent viewers.

Higher view counts also make the streamer more visible amongst the sea of other Twitch users. This visibility makes it more likely that the channel will be discovered by other users, which can then earn the streamer more legitimate viewers.

Some moderately popular streamers have been accused of using a botnet service to fabricate views, including StarCraft II channel WinterGaming, who was eventually exposed on Reddit as being guilty of “viewbotting.” As a result, Nvidia Corp dropped WinterGaming from its sponsorship program.

“While many broadcasters stream their gameplay online as a hobby, some have managed to turn it into a well-paid full time job,” Symantec’s report says. “Over the past few years, this business model has grown sharply, so it’s unsurprising that scammers are piggybacking on the industry in a parallel underground economy.”

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