Twitch updates policies on sexual harassment

Streaming giant Twitch has updated its policies on sexual harassment.

Twitch said it was "making some clarifications to our sexual harassment policy and sharing more about a new AutoMod category designed to flag chat messages that may contain sexual harassment."

"While our policy remains largely unchanged, these updates are designed to make the policy easier to understand," the team explained.

Defining sexual harrassment as "non-physical behaviours of a sexual nature that cause users to feel uncomfortable, degraded, unsafe, or discouraged from participation," the streaming service said: "Sexual harassment is never okay or acceptable. It harms our community, can make those targeted feel unsafe and disrespected, and can discourage them and others from participating on Twitch. We want our service to be the best and safest place to stream, and that means drawing clear boundaries around what behaviors are and aren’t allowed.

"We prohibit unwanted comments – including comments made using emojis/emotes – regarding someone's appearance or body, sexual requests or advances, sexual objectification, and negative statements or attacks related to a person's perceived sexual behaviors or activities, regardless of their gender," Twitch added.

"We also do not tolerate the recording or sharing of non-consensual intimate images or videos under any circumstances, and may report such content to law enforcement."

Consequently, the streaming giant has updated its AutoMod tool to "proactively identify and limit the visibility of chat messages that may be inappropriate or offensive". If a streamer enables AutoMod on their channel, the tool will automatically detect and hold potentially harmful messages for mod review, "before they show up to other viewers in chat."

It's then up to the moderators to decide whether to release the message or not.

The changes follow allegations that prolific streamer Dr Disrespect had "inappropriate" conversations with a minor via Twitch's platform.

Guy "Dr Disrespect" Beahm recently addressed the accusations relating to his Twitch ban in 2020, confirming he was banned when Twitch learned that he had messaged a minor in 2017.

“I should have never entertained these conversations to begin with,” he wrote in a social media post, describing them as “casual, mutual conversations that sometimes leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate.”

As a result of the allegations, game studio Midnight Society has parted ways with its co-founder and streamer Beahm, as well as gaming headset manufacturer, Turtle Beach. His YouTube channel has also now been demonetised.

In May, Twitch reportedly terminated all members of its Safety Advisory Council team. Last week, it reinstated Donald Trump's Twitch channel.