Twitch have updated their policies on hateful conduct and harassment

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Twitch have updated their policies on hateful conduct and harassmentMore clarity on conduct

More clarity on conduct

It’s been a year for penning more explicit policies over at Twitch. Earlier this year the streaming websiteupdated their nudity and attire policies. They’ve now published a revised policy on hateful conduct and harassment which they will begin enforcing in January after giving streamers and viewers a chance to familiarise themselves with the more specific requirements.

“We know that many people on Twitch–particularly women, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, Black, Indigenous, and people of color–unfortunately continue to experience a disproportionate amount of harassment and abuse online, including on our service,” Twitch say. “Not only is this blatantly unacceptable, it also undermines the community we’re building on Twitch and threatens the long term viability of streaming as a career for everyone who wishes to pursue it. "

These are just some specific examples given. There’s quite a lot more tothe updated policyitself to address edge cases and other confusion.

Twitch say that their safety team will look at both the content and the context of behavior on Twitch to determine whether something is against the new policy. “As a consequence of this, our assessment of some areas, including some types of harassment, may rely on indications that a behavior is unwanted, including channel time-outs, bans or reports from the targeted user or a mod team,” they say, intending not to punish users for good-natured bants in competitive communities.

Twitch say they will begin enforcing these new policies on content created on or after January 22nd in order to give users a chance to familiarise themselves and ask questions. You can find dates and times for their planned Q&A sessions inthe new policy announcement.

Earlier this year,Twitch began banning usersspecifically related to a wave of sexual abuse and harassment complaints. They say that the updated policy is the product of months of community research and consultation.