Is something moving in CS2's anti-cheat? Gabe Follower claims Valve made an "unprecedented" change
Just as the community had greeted the announcement of more skins with a resounding "what about the anti-cheat?", the first sign arrives that maybe — just maybe — something is moving on that front. Gabe Follower, one of the most-followed insiders in the Valve ecosystem, posted a message on Sunday that has passed 280,000 views and deserves a careful read.
What he actually says
According to the insider, CS2's developers have done something unprecedented to the anti-cheat, a change related to how it behaves against rage hacks (the blatant spinbot-style cheats). But the most striking part is what follows: he claims to be deliberately holding back further anti-cheat news, stresses this isn't his usual clickbait, and says he's gathering more information and verifying everything because, in his words, it "sounds kinda promising." He promises a dedicated video, probably next week.
In a follow-up reply he added a telling nuance: he hopes Valve won't be upset by the publication, precisely because the company doesn't address the problem publicly itself.
Why to take it with a grain of salt (and why it's news anyway)
Let's be clear about what this is and isn't. Nothing is official: no documented patch, no Valve statement, no verifiable technical details. The wording of the post itself is ambiguous — it's unclear whether the change affects how the system detects rage hacks, how it reacts to them, or something else entirely — and Gabe Follower himself acknowledges he's still verifying the information. Until his video, this all lives in teaser territory.
That said, the source matters. Gabe Follower has a long track record of accurate finds in Valve's files and ecosystem (the recent discovery of Clan Tag references in the game files was his, for instance), and he doesn't tend to publicly commit to a "non-clickbait" video without material. When an insider of his profile talks about "promising" developments in the game's most criticized area, that is at minimum significant.
Context is everything
The timing couldn't be more pointed. Last week, the Call II Arms-ory announcement — more skin collections — reaped an avalanche of replies demanding anti-cheat instead of cosmetics. Complaints about cheaters in Premier's upper ranks are constant, and the prevailing perception is that VACnet trails the anti-cheats of third-party platforms. All of this while Valve maintains its historic silence on the subject — to the point that its insiders worry about publishing on it.
If what Gabe Follower is hinting at is confirmed, it would be the first good anti-cheat news in a long time, arriving just as the community's patience hit bottom. If it comes to nothing, it will be another chapter in the long history of dashed expectations around VAC. Either way, next week brings the video — and we'll cover it with the same standard as always: what's verifiable, verified.
cs2 devs did something unprecedented to the anti-cheat, which completely stopped it from being triggered by rage hacks. however i'm gatekeeping some interesting anti-cheat related news, not my typical clickbaits. looking for more info and verifying everything, but it sounds kinda…
— Gabe Follower (@gabefollower) July 19, 2026
Source: Gabe Follower (@gabefollower) on X.