Content guidelines have always been a controversial topic when it comes to the streaming world—and popular streaming platform Twitch is usually right at the center.
In an update to its Terms of Service, Twitch made a handful of surprising changes that allowed several forms of previously-banned content to be broadcast on the site, including artistic content that featured ‘fictionalized (drawn, animated, or sculpted) fully exposed female-presenting breasts and/or genitals or buttocks regardless of gender.’
This was a huge change that brought forward a massive wave of new streamers and channels that proceeded to stream NSFW content on the platform’s Art section, including those that were clearly of sexual nature. (Note: the following clips linked in this paragraph are NSFW) Multiple popular streamers were also flabbergasted by the changes, such as Lacari, Paymoneywubby, and xQc, while content creators like Nymn poked fun at the new changes with their own art.
Many fans are also stunned that Twitch would be standing by these changes, especially after the tug-of-war that has been happening between the mod team and NSFW content creators. Some viewers pointed to the massive ban wave against gambling content on the website, which deemed the content too dangerous to expose to younger audiences, in comparison to the new allowance of “artistic nudity.”
“It’s not like everyone needs to be dressed in full beekeeper outfits or something, but dude it’s getting ridiculous,” One user on Reddit complained. “I’m not even anti-porn or anti-sex work, but this is fucking insane and not the website for it. There’s a time and place for stuff and Twitch ain’t it.”
Other users were a bit more lenient with the changes, stating that if the creators were properly tagging their content and enforcing content warnings before any viewers access their stream, they should be allowed to broadcast.
They also pointed out that Twitch was already reinforcing a line within the sand when it came to certain NSFW content, since multiple channels were already being banned after testing the boundaries of the new policy.
Ultimately, there might need to be another update or response from Twitch after this flood of new content on their site, especially with the amount of streamers that have been subsequently removed from the platform due to their actions and lack of research into what is truly allowed with the new policy update.
