Use of the word \u201csimp\u201d on Twitch reportedly rose 97% after ban TwitchTwitch users were quick to rebel against Twitch after it originally banned the words \u201csimp,\u201d \u201cincel\u201d and \u201cvirgin\u201d on December 15 \u2013 and a new report shows just how much its decision backfired. The decision to ban these terms came to light on December 16, when the platform issued a surprise policy update. During a townhall stream, Twitch\u2019s COO Sara Clemens notoriously noted that \u201cUsing terms like simp, incel, or virgin as an insult to negatively refer to another person\u2019s sexual activity is not allowed under this new policy.\u201d Following this, many streamers voiced their disapproval on social media, including big names such as 100 Thieves\u2019 Neekolul, NICKMERCS and TimTheTatman. I fact, he backlash was so great that Twitch had to issue a statement clarifying its stance. \u201cWe do not have a blanket ban on the use of words like \u2018simp\u2019 in casual banter,\u201d they explained in a tweet. \u201cBut will take action when words like this (amongst others) are used to harass and harm community members.\u201d The term \u201csimp\u201d popularly refers to men who will go to great lengths to impress a woman with the (usually false and self-imposed) hope that he will receive her affections, in return. It\u2019s often applied to viewers, normally males, who are abnormally generous with gifting money to female streamers. We do not have a blanket ban on the use of words like \u201csimp\u201d in casual banter, but will take action when words like this (amongst others) are used to harass and harm community members. Check out our hateful conduct and harassment policy to learn more: https:\/\/t.co\/rT9QAC6zcZ \u2014 Twitch (@Twitch) December 18, 2020 Now, according to a report by Stream Hatchet, chats mentioning the word \u2018simp\u2019 nearly doubled after Twitch\u2019s \u201cban\u201d on the word came to light. In the fifteen days before the ban, there was an average of 71K uses of the word in Twitch chats. Following the ban, however, the number rose to 140K. \u201cThe banning didn\u2019t seem to stop Twitch users from testing the limits of the new ToS additions. Adversely, the banning led to an increase of \u2018simp\u2019 mentions in chat to almost double the previous 15 day average,\u201d the report details. Basically, viewers on Twitch were willing to put their own accounts in danger in defense of free speech and in protest of the platform\u2019s policies. Stream Hatchet did not include statistics for the words \u201cincel\u201d and \u201cvirgin,\u201d but those terms were mocked by many on social media following news of the ban originally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Use of the word \u201csimp\u201d on Twitch reportedly rose 97% after ban TwitchTwitch users were quick to rebel against Twitch after it originally banned the words \u201csimp,\u201d \u201cincel\u201d and \u201cvirgin\u201d on December 15 \u2013 and a new report shows just how much its decision backfired. The decision to ban these terms came to light on […]<\/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-63167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63167","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=63167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}