Twitch Implements New Community Guidelines

Twitch's new community guidelines that hope to better guide the behavior of both viewers and streamers are in effect as of today.

The guidelines that have been revealed, discussed, and debated prior to the enforcement date of March 5 looked to tackle issues ranging from harassment to other forms of hateful or provocative content. For streamers and viewers that were already avoiding skirting too close to the previous guidelines and strayed away from content or actions that could be interpreted as harassment, not much will change in the new guidelines. The revised set of rules includes many of the standard policies such as no harassment or discrimination based on age, gender, or any other trait, but a new emphasis on content creators having more control over their viewers did raise some concerns from streamers.

"Creators are role models and leaders of the communities they create or foster around them," a statement from Twitch read in an FAQ update on the new community guidelines. "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 continued to remind users that the platform shouldn't be used to incite hateful conduct or harassment in any form, be that through Twitch or through a different platform. In order to follow through on this guideline, it means that Twitch will have to take into account what streamers are doing outside of Twitch as well, though the platform says that it won't be actively monitoring other services for violation of its guidelines. Instead, only reports from those who have evidence of harassment situations will be acted on should the evidence prove to be strong enough.

"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."

Dress code was another aspect of the Twitch guidelines that some content creators found confusing. Initially, Twitch said streamers were expected to wear clothing that would be appropriate for a setting such as a public mall, but many were quick to point to the vagueness of the rule. This confusion coupled with the concerns over content creators policing their communities' actions led to Twitch pushing back the start date of the new guidelines in order to provide clarification.

The new Twitch guidelines are now in effect and can be read in full here.