Twitch recently announced a major change to its Community Guidelines. On Feb. 19, streamers will have to make sure to delete any clips or VODs on their channels that contain other streamers' channels, sexual content or harassment. This can be a difficult task for streamers with years of backlogged content. Understanding what’s bannable and what’s fair game can be hard to grasp and the thought of my favorite streamer getting the ban hammer is terrifying to say the least.
Here’s what you have to know to make sure you or your favorite streamer will not lose their channel, taken from the two in-depth rulesets straight from Twitch.
First off, Twitch will take any form of harassment extremely seriously. Over the last few years, toxicity on the platform has been on the rise, as risque streamers like Tyler1 and Ice Poseidon (not anymore) have seen their audiences grow. To combat this growing tide, admins will now be able to ban streamers who engage in any form of harassment targeted at another streamer, on or off the platform.
Here are a few examples of forms of “harassment” on Twitch that can result in a ban:
Joking around with a friend and just having fun.
A streamer’s chat spamming anything racist, brigading other channels or spreading someone’s information.
Watching another streamer’s channel without their approval or prior consent. This should cut down on the drama on Twitch, or at least it should.
The other dilemma Twitch aims to disrupt is “sexual content” on a site with a large young audience. Here’s just a few ways you can get banned:
Asking someone for sex, even if joking.
“Sexually suggestive content” up to the discretion of Twitch.
Wearing inappropriate attire for what you are doing, whatever the hell that means.
Having the wrong camera angle.
Painting a naked picture.
Streamers are already changing their content to fit the new rules. Forsen, one of the old gods of Hearthstone, can no longer host “Saturday Night E”, a show with clips of other streamers. Greekgodx, a Tyler1 disciple and self-proclaimed edge-lord, has been having a hard time adjusting to these changes since he’s made a whole career out of watching other streamers’ channels. How strict Twitch will police these policies remains to be seen; larger channels are going to have to seriously moderate their chats, especially in large esports tournaments. Who knows what’s going to happen to all the “camgirl IRL” streamers who make thousands of dollars in donations for just looking into a camera.
These CG attempt to curb the wild nature of streaming’s wild west. Being able to watch others live their lives through our magic internet boxes is still a new phenomenon, one that nobody really knows how to properly regulate. Twitch hopes to make their Amazon overlords less legally responsible for the crazy shit that goes on, like swatting and doxxing.
I’ll be watching to see who gets out alive. #MonkaS
