Twitch Says Being Seen As ‘Sexy’ Isn’t Against The Rules, Creates Dedicated Category For Hot Tub Streamers

Image: Amouranth / Twitch

After month of controversial stemming from a perceived flaw in Twitch’s dress code and sexual conduct, the company created a dedicated section for swimming pools, hot tubs and beaches.

In a new blog post today, Twitch announced that it has created a new category: “Swimming pools, hot tubs and beaches.” Previously, spa streamers made extensive use of the Just Chatting tote category, which has led some streamers and viewers to accuse them of breaking the rules in one way or another, despite the fact that they didn’t. ‘didn’t actually break Twitch’s rules. In the blog post, Twitch clarified this.

“Although we have guidelines on sexually suggestive content, being deemed sexy by others is not against our rules, and Twitch will not take coercive action against women, or anyone on our service, for their benefit. perceived attractiveness, ”the company wrote, adding that it discourages harassment against all streamers, regardless of their actions or intentions. “Under our current Nudity and outfit and Sexually suggestive content political, streamers can appear in swimsuits in contextually appropriate situations (at the beach, in a hot tub, for example), and we allow creative expression like body writing and body painting, provided that the banner has appropriate coverage as outlined in our dress policy. ”

Twitch noted that sexually explicit content – which it defines as “pornography, sex acts and sexual services” – is where it draws the line. He admitted, however, that his rules “are not as clear as they could be” and that they will receive an update “in the coming months”.

The company also addressed the recent controversy surrounding the sudden and unreported demonetization of Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa’s channel, which took place earlier this week in response to complaints that Siragusa said came from a single advertiser (Siragusa told Kotaku in an email that Twitch would not tell which advertiser). Twitch’s post appears to challenge this characterization, instead attributing it to “the majority of our advertiser base.” Siragusa, however, was not alone. Sources have since told Kotaku that a number of streamers have removed advertising from their channels, although it appears not all of them have noticed or said anything publicly. This has alarmed Twitch streamers, who no longer know what is considered advertiser-friendly content and what isn’t, meaning they too may not be able to make any money with them anymore. Twitch ads. In the blog post, Twitch didn’t do much to allay their fears, but it did confirm that demonetization is something that can happen now.

“On Twitch, brands decide where and when their ads appear,” the company wrote. “Today, they can target or avoid specific categories of content and flag channels that do not meet their standards. This means that Twitch, in rare cases, will suspend advertising on a channel at the request of the advertisers. We absolutely do not allow brands to use protected features as a filter for targeting or ad blocking. “

Twitch went on to admit that, in the case of Siragusa and others, it had made a mistake.

“We recently suspended advertising on certain channels that were reported by the majority of our advertiser base and we have not notified them,” the company wrote. “Our creators are counting on us, and we should have warned the affected streamers of this change before it happened – it was a mistake not to do so. We work with individual creators to address their specific situations and restore ads where appropriate. “

To address this and other issues, Twitch said it “is working to develop more robust controls for advertisers and viewers to allow them to control their experiences on our service.” He’s also looking at how to communicate to streamers what exactly “brand-safe” means, but this feature “will apparently take time to build and implement”.

The new Pools, Spas and Beaches category is, Twitch explained, not a long-term solution to these problems. Rather, it aims to spin the beach ball by responding to complaints from streamers and viewers.

“Creators can continue to stream content that falls into this category as long as it doesn’t violate our guidelines,” Twitch wrote. “Viewers can better avoid recommendations for content they don’t want to see, and those who want to see that content will have an easier time finding it. And brands can turn this category on or off depending on whether or not it fits their target audience, just as they can today with any other category. “

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