During a stop on his Caribbean tour, IShowSpeed’s May 6, 2026, livestream peaked at around 1.92 million concurrent viewers on YouTube, a number that initially appeared to place him among the most-watched livestreamers in the platform’s history.
The stream, which featured appearances from Dominican media personality Santiago “Alofoke” Matías and several public events around Santo Domingo, quickly gained attention online because of the rapid increase in viewers.
However, shortly after the broadcast, analytics observers and other streamers began questioning whether the viewership numbers were organic.
Why viewers suspected viewbotting
Several analytics patterns led to the speculation. According to data cited by StreamsCharts, the stream’s viewer count increased far beyond the average audience seen during earlier broadcasts on the same tour. At the same time, live chat participation rose at a much slower pace compared to the jump in concurrent viewers.
“That kind of sustained plateau is often associated with viewbotting patterns,” StreamsCharts commented.
Some viwers also pointed to the stream’s unusually stable viewer graph, which lacked the normal fluctuations commonly seen during large livestreams. Other creators, including xQc, publicly commented on the sudden increase in viewers during the broadcast.
Speed later addressed the situation
The following day, Speed stated that he had spoken with YouTube representatives and confirmed that the stream had been artificially inflated by bots.
According to him, the stream’s actual peak audience was closer to 300,000 concurrent viewers rather than the reported 1.92 million. He also stated that he did not personally purchase or use viewbots for the stream. Even with the adjusted numbers, the broadcast still ranked among the largest streams from his Caribbean tour.
“We never broke our record. It was a great stream, but we only peaked at around 300K. I talked to the YouTube reps. Somebody botted that stream,” Speed announced in a video.
Featured image courtesy: IShowSpeed