I spoke about horrible comments yesterday when talking about Cyberpunk 2077′s reviews. There were plenty of comments when the reviews released and (shockingly enough) they were tame. For the most part, when there is a policy change for a site such as Twitch, Twitter, or elsewhere, there is usually complaints about the “Lefty liberal…” so and so. This announcement was no different. Once again, Twitch has updated its policy, and they seem like the bare minimum in terms of changes. The updated guidelines will be coming into effect on the 22nd of January.

The changes are aimed at curbing hateful speech, symbols of controversy, and generally lurid comments that women almost exclusively receive daily in comments, direct messages, and so on. What are the changes? Well, most notably emotes are a big part of how many use Twitch. As such, any that alone, with other emotes or with text lead to commentary that is malicious will now be held to this policy. The other notable minimum we’re seemingly hitting is something historical. It is understandable games (such as Red Dead Redemption 2) will feature white supremacy and the confederate flag, that’s fine. However, outside of those contexts, symbols or associations with groups such as this will fall under the new restrictions.

On sexual harassment, the update in the blog post notes: “Repeatedly commenting on someone’s perceived attractiveness, even in what you believe to be a positive or [complementary] manner, is prohibited if there is [an] indication that it’s unwelcome (i.e. you’ve been asked to stop, timed-out, or channel-banned).” This is why I say the updated policy is only the bare minimum. For streamers, they want to make this a job. This is the workplace and only now we’re curbing basic harassment.

Twitch agrees (somewhat) with that criticism, and provided a section noting the reasoning for why this is now a change being made. It is understandable though still questionable. “This policy is the culmination of a months-long process incorporating extensive research within our community,” continuing, “We also drew heavily on a review of past cases to identify edge cases, and opportunities for clarification.” While it does take time, it is important to highlight the companies own words in regards to “the long term viability of streaming as a career for everyone who wishes to pursue it.” The process should have been done long before now, one would assume.

The company also offers suggestions on what is general hateful conduct, citing slurs toward protected groups such as: “race, ethnicity, color, caste, national origin, immigration status, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, serious medical condition, and veteran status.” Furthermore, sustained claims that victims of a well-documented tragedy are lying are not prohibited. Along with explicit comments on appearance, encouraging DDoSing, swatting, doxxing, or malicious raids on social accounts.

While I do believe most of this is the bare minimum and is a little too late; at least it is now coming into effect. Hopefully, from here on out there will be a better place for those that want to stream on Twitch. Clear and decisive policies are important to this, and moving forward hopefully Twitch can handle this policy with greater clarity than “Do we continue to allow that guy that streamed in a public bathroom to stream on our platform?“

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