Kick hits 100m user milestone, 3 years after launch

• Kick has hit an impressive milestone, amassing 100m users
• This comes as the platform cracks down against fake accounts
• Kick co-founder acknowledges that some mistakes were made, and lays out an action plan

Set up as a more liberal alternative to Twitch, Kick, a streaming platform, has now officially crossed the 100m user threshold, as it continues to grow. The news was highlighted in a short social media post on X, announcing the number.

While the achievement is impressive and has vindicated the platform’s backers against its critics, the truth is that issues persist, as acknowledged by the company’s own Co-founder, BijanTehrani, who said that Kick was not where "we need to or should be."

User milestone without addressing core issues is just "vanity"

The 100m user milestone sounds good, and is a reason to be proud of how far the team has come, but Tehrani said that it is also a sort of "vanity," as the platform has missed out on its own benchmarks.

Tehrani specifically argued that Kick was indeed "rushed to market," and that much of the past three years were spent fixing some of the issues that the precipitous launch had inadvertently created.

Despite the self-flagellation, though, Tehrani similarly ventured to outline some of the good that has been done, setting up the platform for its next chapter: "That work is almost done. The foundation and team are more solid now. And that means we can finally start moving with the force and direction this platform deserves."

Tehrani also acknowledged that the company has been actively looking to strengthen its model, ending all Saudi-level contracts that led to short-term growth and buzz at the expense of "longevity and good content."

Giving streamers a fair chance, killing bots, and avoiding favoritism

Tehrani confirmed that the company has been engaged in addressing viewbotting and system abuse, deleting tens of millions of fake spam accounts. Creators, he argued, will not have to compete against bots or rely on staff favoritism for discovery.

The platform is also looking to grow its revenue through ads, but Tehrani argued that most users may not have even noticed, as the team has committed to making those as non-obtrusive as possible, ensuring "authentic discovery," instead.

Tehrani’s direct address of what have been seen as critical issues, highlighted by some streamers, gives him credit, as does Kick, which is now set to arguably work through some of the most challenging issues that major streaming giants such as Twitch have been facing for years.

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