Twitch\u2019s new harassment policy will prohibit certain emote combinations TwitchTwitch has unveiled its new policy on hateful content and will be placing some strict rules on harassment, and even what emote combinations are acceptable. The Amazon-owned streaming platform has come under fire in recent months with the multitude of DMCA issues and suspensions leaving streamers and fans confused whenever someone is banned. Furthermore, earlier in June, Twitch pledged to make the platform \u201csafer\u201d after a series of abuse allegations surfaced. Now, with the site cracking down on hateful content, it is taking new steps to make the platform better. In a December 9 blog post, Twitch revealed its new hateful conduct and harassment policy, which even took aim at emote combinations that could be offensive. We\u2019re updating our Hateful Conduct and Harassment policy to clarify our expectations and make Twitch a safer and more inclusive place for everyone. Learn more before it goes into effect on January 22, 2021: https:\/\/t.co\/tNALgheR9e pic.twitter.com\/STyzuG0UFH \u2014 Twitch (@Twitch) December 9, 2020 \u201cEmotes are an important part of how we communicate with one another on Twitch, but they can be used maliciously,\u201d the site explained. \u201cSo emote combinations, even without additional text used in chat, will be held to this policy.\u201d It\u2019s unclear exactly what combinations they were referring to and didn\u2019t provide any examples. In addition to malicious \u201cemote combinations,\u201d however, users are now banned from displaying the Confederate flag. \u201cGiven its historic and symbolic association with slavery and white supremacist groups in the US, displaying the Confederate flag is prohibited,\u201d they added. Aside from emote combinations and the Confederate flag, Twitch also detailed its changes to what it considers harassment. \u201cSeveral of the changes in this updated policy make certain aspects of our longstanding policy clearer and more explicit,\u201d Twitch explained and cited several examples such as encouraging others to DDos someone or raid their social media channels. On the sexual harassment front, Twitch is also introducing some changes to combat it and gave it its own category with a low-tolerance policy. For instance, now, \u201crepeatedly commenting on someone\u2019s perceived attractiveness\u201d is prohibited. As is making \u201clewd or explicit comments\u201d about someone\u2019s sexuality or appearance. According to Twitch, it\u2019s making these changes now because people \u201ccontinue to experience a disproportionate amount of harassment and abuse online.\u201d The new policies reportedly took months of research with consultation from experts and the site\u2019s controversial Safety Advisory Council. ADL commends today’s announcement from @Twitch to make the platform safer for its users. While this is a welcome move, we continue to urge the platform to provide proper transparency as to better gauge the effectiveness and enforcement of these updates. https:\/\/t.co\/vyoAxgPBDb \u2014 ADL (@ADL) December 9, 2020 The ADL praised the changes. David L. Sifry, VP of ADL\u2019s Center for Technology and Society issued a statement saying: \u201cADL appreciated the opportunity to provide input as part of Twitch\u2019s update process, and we are encouraged by the company\u2019s efforts to make its hate and harassment policies clearer and more comprehensive. By articulating how the company intends to address hate, harassment, and extremism on its platform, Twitch can provide a safer and more equitable environment for all users.\u201d However, the ADL also urged Twitch to release data on hate and harassment on the platform, claiming Twitch is one of the few major social media platforms to not provide a transparency report. They are set to take effect on January 22, 2021, but only content created on or after that date will be evaluated under the guidelines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Twitch\u2019s new harassment policy will prohibit certain emote combinations TwitchTwitch has unveiled its new policy on hateful content and will be placing some strict rules on harassment, and even what emote combinations are acceptable. The Amazon-owned streaming platform has come under fire in recent months with the multitude of DMCA issues and suspensions leaving streamers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62913\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}