Twitch updates policy to ban sexual references in usernames

Twitch, in an effort to curb hateful conduct and harassment, updated its username policy this week to bar references to “sexual acts, arousal, fluids, or genitalia,” as well as “references to hard drugs” — with marijuana specifically exempt, along with alcohol and tobacco, from the ban.

It’s unclear if a trend or something specific triggered this change; in a note to users published Thursday, Twitch said it had already removed many reported usernames under its existing policy. But the company said, “We believe establishing a stronger standard is needed to cultivate a diverse, inclusive global community on Twitch.”

Since a number of years Twitch has had to fight with other streamers. Streamers have built large followings while flouting certain policies. One example is the so-called hot tub meta — a livestream subgenre taking advantage of policies that exempted swimwear from guidelines prohibiting sexually suggestive or explicit content.

Last summer, Twitch handed temporary bans to two popular content creators for staging yoga ASMR streams, which Twitch moderators considered violations of the platform’s suggestive content policy. Earlier in 2021, Twitch went so far as to create a Pools, Hot Tubs, and Beaches category, in response to advertisers’ complaints about appearing alongside such livestreams.

Any communication which communicates violence (or threatens to violence), hate speech or personally identifiable information, is prohibited. Twitch has outlined the methods it uses to sanction usernames or accounts that attempt or create offenders. Any clear violation of this policy will lead to an indefinite suspension.

Twitch users will have until March 1st to update their policy. After that, enforcement starts.

“Usernames really matter on Twitch,” the company said in its note. “They’re your textual avatar in chat and a crucial piece of channel branding for Creators. Searchable usernames can be found and are visible across all sites. Given their usage across Twitch channels, we believe they must be held to a universal and higher standard than other places people express themselves — like chat, for instance.”