Twitch pushes out it's new content guidelines on harassment, "stream clothing" and hateful content

[ItsMitch]

Yes, I'm a little late, my bus got stuck in a traffic jam. I'm sorry.

The source is Twitch's Blog on its new guidelines, prepare yourself. https://blog.twitch.tv/community-guidelines-faq-update-a322c82b8038

 

Twitch has just pushed it's latest guidelines regarding harassment of other streamers, appropriate clothing for the stream (cya booby streamers) and general community toxicity as a whole as some advertisers are becoming increasingly concerned that their ads are appearing on content they don't approve of. 

First point: 

Quote

What does Twitch consider hateful conduct?

Hateful conduct is any content or activity that promotes, encourages, or facilitates discrimination, denigration, objectification, harassment, or violence based on the following characteristics, and is strictly prohibited:

• Race, ethnicity, or national origin
• Religion
• Sex, Gender, or Gender Identity
• Sexual Orientation
• Age
• Disability or Medical Condition
• Physical Characteristics
• Veteran Status

Twitch will consider a number of factors to determine the intent and context of any reported hateful conduct. You can read more on Twitch’s harassment and hateful conduct policies in our Learn More article.

 

1

Yeah I can see why Twitch want to prioritise this as quickly as possible, hateful content has become a problem, especially with some bigger streamers, Forsen, tyler1, Summit, etc, it's a good first step but I don't think it'll work as they hope it does, I'll explain further down. 

Quote

What should I do about viewers exploiting elements of my stream like text-to-speech to harass, be hateful, or post sexual content?

As a streamer, you are responsible for the content on your stream. Twitch asks you to make a good faith effort to moderate interactive elements of your stream such as setting a word filter or a notification delay to give yourself a chance to moderate incoming notifications. Ultimately, you will have to decide what steps are right for your stream and your community’s behavior in order to abide by the Community Guidelines. Remember to temporarily disable or mute any unmoderated interactive elements such as text-to-speech if you step away from your computer.

 

1

I'm getting a little concerned over this, text to speech is a mixed bag, yes but I don't think to punish the content creator themselves is the right step in this situation. 

Quote

To what extent am I responsible for my community?

Creators are role models and leaders of the communities they create or foster around them. Creators should consider the consequences of their statements and actions of their audiences; we ask that you make a good faith effort to quell any efforts from those in your community to harass others.

Twitch should not be used to incite, encourage, promote, facilitate, or organize hateful conduct or harassment, whether on or off Twitch. We will suspend communities, organizations, and individuals that do so.

 

 

Yeah, I can see why Twitch want to push this out too, especially for "Raids" that allow streamers to send all their viewers to one channel

 

Here's the big problem I see, especially when it comes to censorship regarding OFF PLATFORM related discussions

Quote

Why is Twitch moderating off-Twitch conduct?

We recognize that harassment against Twitch community members can sometimes originate from off-Twitch conduct. Our desire to moderate verifiable off-Twitch harassment stems from our belief that ignoring conduct when we are able to verify and attribute it to a Twitch account compromises one of our most important goals: every Twitch user can bring their whole authentic selves to the Twitch community without fear of harassment.

How is Twitch moderating off-Twitch conduct?

Reporters of harassment must submit links to evidence with their report.

The moderation team will only take action if:

• The links provided are verifiable
• The content can be directly tied to the reported Twitch user
• The target of harassment is another Twitch user, group of Twitch users, or Twitch employees
• The moderation team determines the conduct violates our policies

Twitch will not actively monitor other websites or services for violations of our Community Guidelines, nor will we be acting on off-Twitch content created prior to March 5, 2018.

 

1

This is a big problem that concerns me, this is opening the door for silencing a creator on another platform like Twitter, etc. I just don't think this will please everyone and a lot of streamers have spoken out against the new guidelines. It's just silly in my eyes to please the advertisers, it's going way too far with this. 

Quote

What clothing is appropriate for my stream?

Given the variety of content and activities creators engage in, an explicit dress code would be unreasonably restrictive. Streaming is a public activity that reaches a global audience of many ages and cultures, and as such we prohibit nudity and sexual conduct. When evaluating reports for sexual conduct, attire is just one factor we will use in making a determination on whether conduct is acceptable.

We recommend creators wear attire that would be publicly appropriate for the context, location, and activity they are broadcasting. For example, workout clothes would be appropriate for a fitness stream and a swimsuit would be appropriate for a stream from a public beach.

 

 

Oh yes, the camgirls of Twitch, who forgot about these? I just wish Twitch would just purge the IRL section, to be honest with these overly sexualized streamers who try and whore money out of people, it's sad, pathetic and it's just unacceptable, Twitch IS a gaming streaming site, but since Twitch opened the doors to IRL it's been going downhill from here in my eyes.

 

Oh well, feel free to discuss.

[iRileyx]

Derp didn't read the full sentence  

[TidaLWaveZ]

TLDR version

 

Twitch puts out new guidelines and will ban whoever they want at there own discretion, let the double standards fly.

 

TLDR'ed TLDR version

 

Twitch issues ban for who it doesn't agree with

[ItsMitch]

Just now, TidaLWaveZ said:

TLDR version

 

Twitch issues ban for who it doesn't agree with

 

FFTY

[TidaLWaveZ]

1 minute ago, SC2Mitch said:

FFTY

 

[FiveNine]

5 minutes ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

TLDR version

 

Twitch puts out new guidelines and will ban whoever they want at there own discretion, let the double standards fly.

Pretty much this. Soon you won't be able to say what you want anywhere, speech regulations inc

[Skanky Sylveon]

Twitch, a place where you can't dress the way you want, nor is it a place where you can express yourself freely anymore.

While yes, harassment is not cool, these rules are over the line in quite a few places.

 

Also, who determines what is harassment?  Is a certain word enough to be considered harassment, or is it the context that counts?

Let me share something.

Quote

 

No harassment, I can't stress this enough. This means no bullying, racial discrimination, stalking, or other behaviors that is solely designed to hurt someone. That doesn't mean that certain words are outright banned, it just means, that if used in a certain context, it's not allowed.

These are some of the rules from my discord channel, I make it VERY clear that it's the context that counts, and not the words.

While it's Twitch's decision on what they want to enforce, they should be VERY clear when it comes to these types of issues.

 

And that doesn't even go into their dress code and their "off Twitch moderation".  With the latter being pretty draconian, as well as being vulnerable to abuse.

[Millay]

Is it not just aq case of he who signs the cheques make the rules, I see nothing untoward or unfair they are a business who have decided they need to implement new rules to focus the direction of their business. I sometimes wonder if we expect to much freedom from services that are profit run businesses, the thing is as they are not a monopoly they have no form or control of the industry as a whole. Consumers are free to go to other providers, there are loads out there and many with much less stringent rules. 

 

TL:DR
So what just go somewhere else if you do not like the rules

[TidaLWaveZ]

43 minutes ago, FiveNine said:

Pretty much this. Soon you won't be able to say what you want anywhere, speech regulations inc

In all seriousness (and to actually add to the thread) this is how I see it too.

 

I understand that these sites want to be family friendly, safe, and non-offensive but I feel like the western world is constantly reinforcing an ideology that people don't have to tolerate, accept, or acknowledge anything that they don't like or agree with like works of art, literature, historical events, science, religion, etc. Bad things have and are going to continue to happen, hiding from them is not a solution.

 

What will this lead to? The death of quality original content. 

[Blademaster91]

5 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

Twitch not gonna touch streamers who have a lot of followers, no matter how controversial their content

Too much ad and sub revenue to lose there

But smaller streamers? Prepare to bend over and take it hard

Twitch has had those double standard policies for a while now,though it's almost ironic because everyone was getting away from Youtube for their censorship now Twitch does the same. Twitch already had a warning you had to click through to watch mature streamers, but I guess some people still can't tolerate it.

[NelizMastr]

The whole harassment section just feels like a South Park episode where they ridiculed the absurdity that is "safe spaces". The entire world is so easily offended and harassed these days. Grow some balls, life is a bitch, deal with it, especially if the shit you get is justified.

[hconverse02]

4 minutes ago, NelizMastr said:

The whole harassment section just feels like a South Park episode where they ridiculed the absurdity that is "safe spaces". The entire world is so easily offended and harassed these days. Grow some balls, life is a bitch, deal with it, especially if the shit you get is justified.

I don't think harassment is justified for anyone, even if they 'deserve' it or harassed someone else in the first place.  That usually just adds flame to the fire and is a bit hypocritical because the majority of social media is very immature.

[NelizMastr]

6 minutes ago, hconverse02 said:

I don't think harassment is justified for anyone, even if they 'deserve' it or harassed someone else in the first place.  That usually just adds flame to the fire and is a bit hypocritical because the majority of social media is very immature.

Still, I don't think it's Twitch's duty to create a safe space for everyone, especially if it's justified. 

 

Let's say, hypothetically, you're a white male, lets call him Logan Paul for this example, and you film people committing suicide, publish it online and then go stream some games on Twitch. If you get shit from people, it's justified because you're a rotten human being.

 

Disclaimer:

 

I live in a country where it's normal to tell someone to his face what you think. And no, we don't shoot eachother for it, it's called respect.

[hconverse02]

Just now, NelizMastr said:

If you get shit from people, it's justified because you're a rotten human being.

It's ok to criticize it, but even with what he did, it's different to attack someone for being immature and uncivilized.  He deserved the loss of income and should be shut down entirely, but attacking someone for their mistakes is just as immature.

[FiveNine]

4 minutes ago, hconverse02 said:

I don't think harassment is justified for anyone, even if they 'deserve' it or harassed someone else in the first place.  That usually just adds flame to the fire and is a bit hypocritical because the majority of social media is very immature.

The problem is that harassment is subjective in many cases. Similar to being offended. People get offended and then they want to censor everything that offends them... This is what is currently happening everywhere. 

[suicidalfranco]

1 hour ago, SC2Mitch said:

cya booby streamers

not gonna happen. But all those who criticize this strong wahman will be banned

[TidaLWaveZ]

6 minutes ago, hconverse02 said:

I don't think harassment is justified for anyone, even if they 'deserve' it or harassed someone else in the first place.  That usually just adds flame to the fire and is a bit hypocritical because the majority of social media is very immature.

I think the issue though is how broad of a term "harassment" is.

 

I've personally had comments deleted from sites like BGR and Engadget that in no way shape or form had any foul language or insults and when I complained the staff said it was harassment to the author.

[Grimfrost769]

Sex sells and cleavage cam girl gamers ain't going no where.

[Taf the Ghost]

Just now, TidaLWaveZ said:

I think the issue though is how broad of a term "harassment" is.

"Codes of Conduct". It's a specific tactic to make you think standards will be enforced, however they're intentionally vague and will be implemented in a biased & draconian fashion.

 

Which is why we're just a few years from a landmark "Free Speech on the Internet". The Silicon Valley companies are actually violating most of the Civil Rights laws on the books in the USA. They'd get a lot more benefit of the doubt if we didn't already know how biased the application of these rules end up being. If you aren't "Corporate Leftist" approved in your opinions & actions, you're time on a "public" platform is on a timer. 

 

Also, there's going to be some interesting Liability issues for these companies. If you lose significant money from a ban on the platform, for events that happened off the platform, you could be in for some real hurt. Right now, they'll never attack someone that's really big, and it is for specifically this reason. Wonder why they hit everyone but Logan Paul in that incident?

[TidaLWaveZ]

9 minutes ago, suicidalfranco said:

not gonna happen. But all those who criticize this strong wahman will be banned

 

4 minutes ago, Grimfrost769 said:

Sex sells and cleavage cam girl gamers ain't going no where.

 

15 minutes ago, NelizMastr said:

snip

Let's say, hypothetically, you're a white male, lets call him Logan Paul for this example, and you film people committing suicide, publish it online and then go stream some games on Twitch. If you get shit from people, it's justified because you're a rotten human being.

 

Congratulations you've all earned a twitch permaban since twitch is now moderating you based on off twitch conduct.

[NelizMastr]

3 minutes ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

 

 

 

Congratulations you've all earned a twitch permaban since twitch is now moderating you based on off twitch conduct.

Lol, I don't use Twitch so they can Saq Madiq  

[TidaLWaveZ]

Just now, NelizMastr said:

Lol, I don't use Twitch so they can Saq Madiq  

I got suckered into signing up to watch the Nvidia press conference when they launched 1080. Haven't used it since.

[Myxzoid]

Twitch has started to go downhill since Amazon bought them and now its starting to turn into a SJW and Whiteknight safe haven.

[Trevor87]

Let throw can of worms in to the Mix is twitch the company BEE complaint because if your going to run business here in South Africa you need to know levels of BEE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Economic_Empowerment. there go I just broken 60 % twitch is roles          

[divito]

I think the one thing that people are maybe overlooking is that the internet, for all its whimsy and digital nature, has real tangible effects, benefits, and consequences in people's lives.

While I'm the first person to oppose SJW initiatives, these companies creating the services and tools that millions of people use, do have a responsibility on some level to protect that user base in some form. There will always be people that abuse the system, and there will always be people that believe that it's too restrictive, but at the end of the day, some people will benefit from some of these measures.