Large social media companies have a pretty difficult job of keeping their largest creators in check. It's not infrequent to hear people call for YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch and more to crack down on the behaviour of prominent figures using their platform for irresponsible means. And now Twitch has provided more context to what the livestreaming platform will do in the event of content creators misbehaving and harassing others off of the site.
These new guidelines fall into two categories. Harassment and then more illegal situations. The former is perhaps the more relevant to everyday Twitch streamers. Livestreaming is a really vulnerable space to be in, to some extent. Hate raids, for example, can occur when one channel raids another, sending all their followers to harass another streamer live, or perhaps continuing to talk badly about other content creators without cause.
These behaviours may start on Twitch, but if these problems extend beyond Twitch, to other social media or even physical issues, Twitch users can use these occurrences as evidence against the harasser. So, basically, bad behaviour relating to harassment off of the website can now contribute to bans if the allegations and harassment are serious enough. It's a way of trying to keep communities as well as their streamers in check.
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The second category delves into more illegal situations. If a Twitch streamer is linked to certain behaviours outside of Twitch they can also now be banned, even if they have committed no offences on Twitch directly. The full list from Twitch's blog post is as follows:
- Deadly violence and violent extremism
- Terrorist activities or recruiting
- Explicit and/or credible threats of mass violence (i.e. threats against a group of people, event, or location where people would gather).
- Leadership or membership in a known hate group
- Carrying out or acting as an accomplice to non-consensual sexual activities and/or sexual assault
- Sexual exploitation of children, such as child grooming and solicitation/distribution of underage sexual materials
- Actions that would directly and explicitly compromise the physical safety of the Twitch community, such as threatening violence at a Twitch event
- Explicit and/or credible threats against Twitch, including Twitch staff
And, yeah, that all seems very fair. Some people are trying to sensationalise these new guidelines as if they're going to ruin the site - however, Twitch has been taking action against creators already who had been involved in illegal, or harassing, activity. This is more that these guidelines are now in writing for users to see and understand.
Featured Image Credit: Twitch / Rockstar