“We Have No Place for Hate” - Twitch Clampdowns on Sexual Content, Harassment and Hate Speech

Owned by Twitch Interactive, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Twitch announced extra steps to clean up their community by updating the Community Guidelines that aim to clarify how the company will combat harassment and hateful content. The live video streaming platform is also ramping up its attention to those channels that breach sexual content.

In a blog post today, Twitch has revealed all the changes to its policies. As an effort to battle harassment, the new changes have been implemented already marking a stronger stand towards toxic behavior.

This major battleground for the Twitch community centers upon female streamers and their attire as women wearing revealing clothes often face disproportionate levels of harassment and accusations. Twitch’s previous guidelines prohibited nudity and overtly sexual behavior. And this time, the new policy warns that streamers cannot wear attire that is intended to be sexually suggestive.

“We restrict content that involves nudity or is sexual in nature, and we are committed to ensuring that Twitch is not used for sexual exploitation or violence.” Twitch’s blog post read. “Attire in gaming streams, most at-home streams, and all profile/channel imagery should be appropriate for a public street, mall, or restaurant. As a reminder, we will not tolerate using this policy as a basis to harass streamers on or off Twitch, regardless of whether you think they’re breaking this rule.”

In addition, the company may even take severe action against inappropriate jokes between friends that could be considered harassment when viewed by others as the streamers are broadcasting on a service that reaches a wide audience.