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 it easier to understand,” the team explained.
The streaming service defines sexual harassment as “non-physical behavior of a sexual nature that makes users feel uncomfortable, demeaned, unsafe, or discouraged from participating,” and states: “Sexual harassment is never okay or acceptable. It hurts our community, can make the people it targets feel unsafe and disrespected, and may discourage them and others from participating on Twitch. We want our service to be the best, safest place to stream, and that means setting clear boundaries around what behaviors are and aren't allowed.
“We prohibit unwanted comments, including comments made via emoji/emoticons, about someone's appearance or body, sexual requests or innuendos, sexual objectification, and negative statements or attacks related to a person's perceived sexual activities or behaviors, 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 the authorities.”
As a result, 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 review by a moderator, “before they are shown to other viewers in the chat.”
It will then be up to the moderators to decide whether to publish the message or not.
The changes follow allegations that prolific streamer Dr Disrespect had “inappropriate” conversations with a minor via the Twitch platform.
Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beahm recently addressed allegations surrounding his 2020 Twitch ban, confirming that he was banned when Twitch learned he had messaged a minor in 2017.
“I should never have considered these conversations in the first place,” she wrote in a social media post, describing them as “casual, mutual conversations that sometimes veered too far toward inappropriate.”
As a result of the allegations, gaming studio Midnight Society has cut ties with its co-founder and streamer Beahm, as well as gaming headset manufacturer Turtle Beach. Its YouTube channel has also been demonetized.
In May, Twitch reportedly fired all members of its Security Advisory Board team. Last week, it reinstated Donald Trump's Twitch channel.