Twitch Postpones Community Guidelines Change

Twitch announced on Twitter that the proposed Community Guidelines change will be postponed until March 5. A day before the actual change was supposed to go into effect, the streaming giant conceded to community pressure, which demanded the rules to be better explained and “clear to everyone.” A new FAQ will be released before the upcoming change, which should hopefully explain things a little better.

These changes were aimed at IRL streamers who spent more time showing off their bodies than actually entertaining their fans, or streamers who like to cause trouble. Indefinite bans would be given out to anyone that breaks these rules, which are still entirely up to the Twitch admins’ discretion.

Though it’s unclear what exactly caused this delay, there were plenty of reasons not to go through with it. Twitch’s original announcement that released two weeks ago was confusing at best, and draconian at worst. Banning everything deemed as “sexual” or “harassment” on the platform causes the platform to have all the power. Streamers would have no idea if what they were doing was risque or totally acceptable until they’ve heard back from Twitch. That’s extremely stressful for streamers who make a living entertaining thousands of fans every night.

The need to remove all past VODs or clips that broke the new rules was also to much too expect out of Twitch’s streamers. Some of these channels go back over five years and it just isn’t practical to skim every single one to make sure they upheld Twitch’s vision. I’m happy these changes are getting delayed since they never really fixed the problems to begin with. Streamers are tired of vague rules and bans that are decided on a case by case basis. There’s no reason rules shouldn’t be enforced the same across the board, regardless of how popular or unknown somebody is.

With this extra week, I hope Twitch really takes the time to listen to its community and rework their plan for a safer platform.