Pokimane Reveals She Feels Unsafe When Atrioc Appears On Her Screen Years After 2023 Deepfake Controversy

Pokimane says seeing Atrioc still causes her anxiety years after the deepfake controversy.© Instagram/@imane

Imane “Pokimane” Anys says Brandon “Atrioc” Ewing showing up in her Twitch community still shakes her, nearly four years after the deepfake controversy that involved several female streamers. On an October 25, 2026, livestream, she told viewers that running into Atrioc's name or face without warning brings the uncomfortable feelings right back, even with blocked and muted terms set up to avoid it. The OfflineTV co-founder also talked about why she kept quiet for so long, admitting that trying to deal with it alone hadn't helped her.

Pokimane opens up about feeling uncomfortable seeing Atrioc on social media after the deepfake situation years ago "Seeing Atrioc's name and face pop up.. It gives me a lot of discomfort and anxiety.. I don't know the best way to deal with it." https://t.co/Gap0bCPFpl

— bloom ???? (@bloomjpg) October 25, 2026

Pokimane Explains Why Atrioc's Name Still Triggers Anxiety During Her Streaming Activities

Pokimane said it can happen pretty naturally while she's watching or taking part in Twitch community content. Blocking specific terms hasn't kept Atrioc's name and face off her screen.

“Yeah, I think just because of what happened, it gives me a lot of discomfort and anxiety,” she told her viewers.

Her first instinct, she admitted, was to ignore those feelings instead of talking about them in public.

“And I think, like, the first few times that this happened, I tried to kind of just, like, ignore the feeling and process it on my own. And that doesn't really help,” Pokimane explained.

So she eventually chose to bring it up with her community rather than keep holding it in. She also said she had never properly talked about the controversy before, even though it played out so publicly.

“Some people might not even know what I am talking about because it happened, like, three or four years ago. And I never talked about it because I was so uncomfortable. But I wanted to now,” she said.

The 2023 Deepfake Controversy Involved Several Female Streamers and Prompted Atrioc's Public Apology

It started in January 2023, when Atrioc accidentally showed a website with AI-generated explicit images of female streamers during a livestream. Pokimane, QTCinderella and other creators were among the ones affected. Atrioc apologized for the incident afterward.

Then in March 2023, he came back to streaming and said he'd been working with a company to shut down websites hosting such images.

Pokimane's newest comments were mostly about her own ongoing discomfort, including how the whole thing can make her feel unsafe in streaming spaces.

“I think it's one of those things that just, like, signals to my brain like, ‘You are not safe here.' Like, ‘No one will protect you.' It just really puts me in fight-or-flight,” she said.

She wrapped up by asking her community if anyone had gone through something similar and whether they had advice on dealing with it.

As of this writing, Atrioc has not publicly responded to Pokimane's latest remarks.