Twitch teases update to policies around mature content

[names2hard4you]

There have been several threads by now talking about this videogame streaming platform and the many issues with it. From allowing sexually suggestive content, hot tub streams, gambling, crypto, full-on watching shows series live, racism and abuse in chat, just to name a few. Seems like streamers are getting asked by Twitch if they would be okay with allowing more mature content on the platform from an official capacity, with a mature tagline next to it. Jake in this video goes over all the things they would allow to be streamed and yeah... Things like erotic dances, "fondling", kissing and the like would be allowed on the platform and be marked as mature content.

I'm not saying these things shouldn't exist on the internet, as there is an audience that wants that type of stuff, but how do you feel about the direction Twitch is going in overall?

 

[Mesoian]

If I had faith that they'd actually put down a concrete set of rules and actually enforce them across the board, I might be more interested.

But they won't.

 

[Remark]

If this is true I wouldn't be surprised.

More and more suggestive streamers poppin up on the platform and getting big meaning more money for Twitch/Amazon. No reason to cut off revenue.

Expect a lot of complaining though but Twitch has already shown where they want to take the platform.

Personally I don't really care as long as it's properly tagged as such to be honest. I don't know why people get so upset over it.

 

[aloner]

Much more concerned about actually damaging things being on the platform like racism, bigotry, abuse etc... sexual content is not a big deal as long as its sequestered to whatever extent away from kids watching Fortnite etc... (not showing up in suggestions or on the front page)

 

[RedHeat]

They should just do it already. The money they'll earn will skyrocket

 

[bloodyroarx]

As long as its properly tagged with defined limits and a easy toggle so I can turn it off

sure man fucking go for it.

 

[Einbroch]

My reaction is shrug. As long as it's all clearly labeled and I can avoid it, I honestly don't care or mind at all.

 

[Lump]

If this is true I wouldn't be surprised.

More and more suggestive streamers poppin up on the platform and getting big meaning more money for Twitch/Amazon. No reason to cut off revenue.

Expect a lot of complaining though but Twitch has already shown where they want to take the platform.

Click to shrink...

The only friction they might face are from advertisers if Fox News or another news station does a "Sex-box?!"-like expose on them.

I still think Twitch stands a better chance at avoiding all these issues by having a separate 18+ site where they can corral gambling and the more generally adult content into a separate URL where there's a separate advertising pool too. Eventually Nintendo or Disney is going to realize that their ads are playing before a giant gambling stream and some shit is going to get kicked up as a result.

 

[Cheezeman3000]

I wouldn't be interested in this content, but why are people opposed if it's clearly labeled and sectioned off? If Twitch makes a lot of money from this and it allows me to keep watching my 100 viewer FF speedruns, I can't fault them.

Don't get me wrong, I understand people's issues with them not treating streamers the same depending on how popular they are, but I think that's a different discussion.

 

[Tbm24]

If it's labeled, go for it.

 

[Dolce]

The only friction they might face are from advertisers if Fox News or another news station does a "Sex-box?!"-like expose on them.

I still think Twitch stands a better chance at avoiding all these issues by having a separate 18+ site where they can corral gambling and the more generally adult content into a separate URL where there's a separate advertising pool too. Eventually Nintendo or Disney is going to realize that their ads are playing before a giant gambling stream and some shit is going to get kicked up as a result.

Click to shrink...

The issue, as it always is, is that the 18+ site will not have people wanting to advertise on it and people will move from that platform to the "all ages" sight. It will also have less viewers.

 

[Thorn]

But god help you accidentally play 5 seconds of a licensed song.

 

[TripleBee]

My only issue has been that twitch was supposed to be a gaming site. Like I don't have an issue with sex positive things - but I don't want dildos on the same shelf as the bread when I'm buying groceries.

That ship has long since sailed on Twitch though.

(Also I think a lot of people are being taken advantage of with unhealthy para-social relationships on Twitch.)

 

[Tigerfish419]

Just do it so people don't be weird about this, if you give them a platform, proper rules and guideline, tags and lock it away from underage people. I have no issue with this.

 

[Remark]

The only friction they might face are from advertisers if Fox News or another news station does a "Sex-box?!"-like expose on them.

I still think Twitch stands a better chance at avoiding all these issues by having a separate 18+ site where they can corral gambling and the more generally adult content into a separate URL where there's a separate advertising pool too. Eventually Nintendo or Disney is going to realize that their ads are playing before a giant gambling stream and some shit is going to get kicked up as a result.

Click to shrink...

Eh even if that were to happen I don't see that affecting their numbers in any significant way.

Also it would hurt from an SEO standpoint to have two separate sites. Makes more sense to have it all under one umbrella. It's obvious Twitch is setting itself up to become a generalized streaming platform and that means for everything mature and all.

 

[RobertNAdams]

Twitch will go in whatever direction makes it money. I wouldn't be surprised if there were behind-the-scenes conversations about the kind of numbers that adult-themed streamers like Amouranth were pulling in and how much potential revenue they were losing due to content posted on places like OnlyFans that wouldn't be allowed on Twitch.

Personally, I couldn't care if they show full-blown hardcore porn, as long as it is behind a strong age gate. But, I'm also strongly anti-censorship, strongly pro free-speech, and fairly laissez-faire about art and entertainment. I believe in the apparently controversial opinion that adults should decide not to watch or experience a piece of art or entertainment if they don't like it rather than try to prevent others from enjoying it.


Oh, and as for the advertisers, I also firmly believe that YouTube should have told them to pound sand the first time the adpocalypse happened. Twitch should do the same. You wanna access the audience, this is the content you have to deal with.

 

[PAFenix]

If I had faith that they'd actually put down a concrete set of rules and actually enforce them across the board, I might be more interested.

But they won't.

Click to shrink...

First post nails it.

Expect any LGBTQ stuff to instantly get the tag, even if it's someone sitting there playing a game and talking.

 

[CountAntonio]

Mature content is fine. It's already there and easily ignorable. Just put in tools for people who don't want it to be able to ignore it more easily. What they need to focus on more is harassment.

 

[names2hard4you]

Personally I don't really care as long as it's properly tagged as such to be honest. I don't know why people get so upset over it.

Click to shrink...

I think a lot of it comes from knowing that Twitch isn't going to enforce these rules correctly. They have yet to show they know how to handle and enforce their own policies, or even protect their streamers. Let's not forget the amount of crazy bigotry and hatred that happens in and out of the platform, with some creators having creepy fans that develop scary para-social relationships

 

[Deleted member 15395]

Do whatever the fuck you want twitch, just make sure the rules are clear and you actually enforce them.

 

[Yappa]

As long as I can filter it out, sure.

 

[Dyle]

For some reason I'm part of some survey group for Twitch and they recently had us review their mature content policies. I mostly just found it confusing and inconsistent. As far as I'm concerned there's no point in messing with any of this stuff until they add some basic options for gating by age or user determined mature content preferences, no one will be satisfied by anything they do until those basic features are in place.

 

[FrostweaveBandage]

Not that I disagree with the mature content as a rule, but I don't trust twitch one iota to keep it properly sequestered away from kids.

 

[Musubi]

I'm fine with whatever they wanna allow they just need to CLEARLY outline what is allowed.

 

[Nights]

Wouldn't really care. Just add an option to toggle it for people not interested and I'd have literally no problems with it.

Though in terms of ads and ad revenue I know some companies dont' tend to want to advertise on more mature content, so I'm wondering what they're gonna do about that issue, or if it'll even be one considering it sounds pretty "softcore".

 

[Jimnymebob]

Do whatever the fuck you want twitch, just make sure the rules are clear and you actually enforce them.

Click to shrink...

This, plus obviously enforce them consistently no matter who the steamer is.

 

[InfiniteKing]

You guys are kidding yourselves if you think Twitch enforces anything on big streamers like Amouranth. Money makers have free reign.

 

[NewDust]

videogame streaming platform

Click to shrink...

FTFY

 

[Servbot24]

I see no problem with it tbh

 

[Zebesian-X]

I think a lot of it comes from knowing that Twitch isn't going to enforce these rules correctly. They have yet to show they know how to handle and enforce their own policies, or even protect their streamers. Let's not forget the amount of crazy bigotry and hatred that happens in and out of the platform, with some creators having creepy fans that develop scary para-social relationships

Click to shrink...

why are we talking about mature/sexual content in the same breath as bigotry and hate speech

 

[HououinKyouma]

Bring back the 24/7 WWE streams from Justin.tv next. I spent an ungodly amount of time watching that back in the day.

 

[Lukar]

As long as there's a SFW button that lets me hide all that stuff when I need to, sure. No reason not to allow it.

 

[names2hard4you]

Though in terms of ads and ad revenue I know some companies dont' tend to want to advertise on more mature content, so I'm wondering what they're gonna do about that issue, or if it'll even be one considering it sounds pretty "softcore".

Click to shrink...

This is a good point. Wonder if there would be any implications when it comes to ads or sponsors for aren't doing that type of content

why are we talking about mature/sexual content in the same breath as bigotry and hate speech

Click to shrink...

Not sure if what I wrote isn't clear, but the hatred and bigotry that I'm talking about apply to all content creators, but specially those already doing mature content. Twitch doesn't do anything about it.

 

[Kyle Cross]

Thumbs up from this sex positive person. Hell, buy Chaturbate and merge it in. Sex workers are workers and they deserve as much opportunities on a big platform as anyone else, just mark things appropriately.

 

[Regiruler]

Unfortunate.

 

[RedAhmed]

As long as I can make sure not a single thing from that kind of content can be found while I'm browsing or checking my feed, then I don't care.

I barely use Twitch, but I found it far too easy to find content I don't want to see. But that could also be because I don't know how to filter them out or something.

Personally I would rather they made a separate site for that kind of stuff, but I'm not in the position to make that call.

 

[henhowc]

Time to start my side-job

 

[Thwomp]

"nerf this"

 

[SDBurton]

If I had faith that they'd actually put down a concrete set of rules and actually enforce them across the board, I might be more interested.

But they won't.

Click to shrink...

Not that I disagree with the mature content as a rule, but I don't trust twitch one iota to keep it properly sequestered away from kids.

Click to shrink...

Exactly how I feel. When they start enforcing their rules and have it apply to EVERYONE then I'll start giving a shit.

 

[NinjaScooter]

Curious if they treat violent games the same way as women in bikinis as far "segregating" content away from the poor little children are concerned.

 

[Netherscourge]

Why can't they just spin off a mature-only streaming platform and call it something besides Twitch?

Keep the same exact infrastructure and just rename it and make it clearly an adults-only streaming platform?

--Games, videogames, PG-13 stuff - TWITCH

--Cleavage, ASMR, Hot tubs, inflatables, Bikinis, Furries, MA stuff - SEXITCH? (or whatever)

Why is this so difficult?

 

[Dest]

I have no qualms with sexual content, but I don't trust Twitch to do it right, and don't think the content should be on the platform to begin with. It's not gonna stop me from using the site, but I just don't think it's the place for it.

 

[Nakenorm]

I really don't care if Twitch is full of suggestive or sexual content, as long as it's moderated fairly and categorized correctly which it won't be.

 

[Elgen98]

Curious if they treat violent games the same way as women in bikinis as far "segregating" content away from the poor little children are concerned.

Click to shrink...

"My child cant watch this, this is porn!"
*proceeds to let them play call of duty and other war crime simulators*

 

[Alienhated]

I think it would be good if more American corporations could start embracing more sexual positivity.

 

[MinusTydus]

Why did I know Amouranth would be the FIRST thing I saw when I opened the thread?

Twitch is a 13+ platform, and her content is not 13+. If she won't willingly age-gate her streams, then place an age-gate that she can't remove on her streams.

Before all the "YAAAAS QUEEN OF SEXUAL LIBERATION" posts start, asking someone to behave appropriately for the platform they're on isn't a bad thing.

 

[nsilvias]

this would be cool if it wasnt so easy to find it already.

 

[John Dunbar]

sure, fine.

and i don't really care about the "but what about the kids" stuff. if they're on twitch unsupervised, they've seen plenty of porn already.

 

[Jebusman]

Why can't they just spin off a mature-only streaming platform and call it something besides Twitch?

Keep the same exact infrastructure and just rename it and make it clearly an adults-only streaming platform?

--Games, videogames, PG-13 stuff - TWITCH

--Cleavage, ASMR, Hot tubs, inflatables, Bikinis, Furries, MA stuff - SEXITCH? (or whatever)

Why is this so difficult?

Click to shrink...

1. Why put furries in the Mature Only section?

2. Their whole end game is to keep as many eyes on a single platform as possible to maximize ad views/retention. Finding a way to reconcile "We want Amouranth on the platform because she brings numbers" and "we don't want to lose advertisers due to mature content" is probably their ultimate goal.

 

[mute]

I'd question why Twitch continues to have a place on the PSNs and eShops (Rated T!) if they go through with this, but then there are also Netflix and HBO, etc. apps out there so 🤷‍♀️